STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

FOR 
PUBLIC SPEAKERS 



il 



I I i 



i 






will: H:iiiiOWJi 




aass_=iJfoj4iJ. 
Book - £)T£- 



CoppgMI?- 



COfMRICSHT DEFOSIE 



Stories of the Great War 
for Public Speakers 



BY 

WILL H. BROWN 

Author of "The Call of Service, " "The Legacy of the Golden Key, 

"The Sex Life of Boys and Young Men, " "Illustrative Incidents 

for Public Speakers, " " Wit and Humor for Public Speakers, " 

"Poems of Pep and Point for Public Speakers, " "Patriotic 

Illustrations for Public Speakers, " Etc. 




CINCINNATI 

THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 



Copyright, 1919 
The Standard Publishmg Company 



^'d^-/- 



©CI AS 29448 



\ 



DEDICATION 

To Every Home Where Service Stars voere Seen 
during the Great World War; to Every Loyal Son 
of Uncle Sam Who Donned the Uniform of His 
Country in Defense of the Right Against the Wrong, 
for the Protection of the Weak Against the Strong. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION 

PAGE 

The Great World War; Its Beginnings; Germany Was 
Eeady; Opposition to Be Crushed; Belgium Blocks the 
Way; Sinking of the "Lusitania"; ''Hands Across the 
Sea ; ' ' Declarations of War ; Diplomatic Relations 
Severed ; Submarines and Aeroplanes ; Awful Sacrifice 
of Life; When Thrones Crumbled; Another "Scrap of 
Paper"; Unparalleled Naval Spectacle; America's Part 
in the War; Truth Stranger than Fiction 7 

CLASSIFIED STORIES 



SUBJECT PAGE 

Achievement 25 

Activity 27 

America 28 

Appreciation 31 

Autocracy 39 

Brothers 40 

Brotherhood 44 

Camouflage 47 

Character 51 

Cheerfulness 59 

Childhood 62 

Coincidence 62 

Comradeship 71 

Confidence 73 

Contrast 74 

Co-operation 78 

Courage 88 



SUBJECT PAGE 

Cowardice 106 

Cruelties 107 

Dependents 115 

Disappointment 116 

Disease 117 

Duty 120 

Economy 121 

Efficiency 123 

Egotism 133 

Emblems 134 

Equipment 136 

Failure 142 

Faith 144 

Faithfulness 145 

Fate 147 

Friendship 151 

Greed 154 



6 



CONTENTS 



SUBJECT PAGE 

Helpfulness 156 

Home Ties 158 

Honor 162 

Hospitality 164 

Humiliation 166 

Ignorance 171 

Industry 172 

Influence 174 

Initiative 175 

Kindness 177 

Letters 180 

Loyalty 182 

Mistaken 188 

Mother 189 

Music 191 

Names 195 

Negroes 197 

Optimism 198 

Patriotism 199 

Perseverance 201 

Personal 213 

Precaution 217 



SUBJECT , PAGE 

Preference 218 

Preparation 219 

Prisoners 221 

Progress 222 

Propaganda 226 

Protection 228 

Punishment 230 

Eeligion 232 

Remembrance 242 

Reminders 244 

Sacrifice 247 

Service 253 

Slackers 263 

Strategy 268 

Sympathy 271 

System 275 

Temperance 276 

Thoughtfulness 279 

Treachery 281 

Unselfishness 285 

Victory 287 

Cross-referencea 291 



INTRODUCTION 

THE GREAT WORLD WAR. 

ITS BEGINNING. 

On June 28, 1914, Gabreel Principe, a Serbian student, 
eighteen years of age, assassinated Areliduke Francis Ferdinand, 
Austrian heir apparent, and his wife, in the city of Sarajevo, 
Bosnia. The assassin was seized by the Austrian authorities and 
deported to the fortress of Theresienstadt, near Prague, Bohemia, 
nearly five hundred miles from the scene of his crime. Here he 
died of tuberculosis, April 29, 1918. 

Immediately following the assassination, Austria, openly sup* 
ported by Germany, and in spite of the efforts of the great 
leaders in England, France and Russia, sent an ultimatum to 
Serbia, making certain demands, all of which were complied 
with but one. This was so humiliating as to be beyond the 
possibility of acceptance by any self-respecting nation. 

Austria claimed that Serbian subjects were parties in a plot 
which resulted in the murder of the Archduke and Duchess, and 
demanded that the suspected conspirators be punished. To this 
Serbia promptly agreed, if, after investigation, any of her sub- 
jects were found guilty. 

As though determined to bring on a conflict, Austria then 
added the insulting insinuation that the Serbian courts could 
not be trusted to try the suspects, and demanded the privilege 
of sending Austrian judges to officiate with the Serbian judges 
at the trial of those accused of conspiracy. Naturally, Serbia 
refused to submit to such humiliating sacrifice of national right 
and dignity, and thereupon Austria declared war. This was on 
July 28, 1914. 

7 



8 INTRODUCTION 



The fact that Germany encouraged every action taken by 
Austria, and within a week thereafter declared war on Eussia, 
France and Belgium, compelled unprejudiced persons to believe 
that Germany was instrumental in bringing on the war for 
which she had been preparing for many years, as later developed. 
In fact, the belief was strong in the minds of many that the 
murder of the Archduke and Duchess was itself inspired by 
Germany, in order to afford an outward excuse for the beginning 
of hostilities. 

Notwithstanding the civilized world sympathized with brave 
little Serbia, Eussia was the only great power that made a move 
to come to her rescue before the conflagration began, and save 
her from annihilation by her powerful antagonist. The Eussians, 
largely of the same race as the Serbians, demanded that the 
Czar intervene. And so Eussia began mobilizing her armies, 
whereupon Germany immediately declared war against Eussia, 
on August 1, while the two great empires were yet at peace, and 
five days before Austria herself had declared war on Eussia. 

France, bound to Eussia by a defensive alliance, began mobil- 
izing her armies near that part of her frontier which bordered 
on Germany. The latter promptly declared war on France, on 
August 3, and began moving a large army toward Paris, but, 
instead of attempting to cross the boundary between Germany 
and France, which was strongly fortified and guarded by the 
French, the first German army entered Belgium and tried to 
force that peaceable little country to permit the Huns to march 
through her territory. Had Belgium consented, it would have 
been an act of war on her part against France. 

Belgium refused, and on August 4 Germany declared war 
on her. She appealed to Great Britain for protection. England 
gave Germany her choice of promptly evacuating Belgian terri- 
tory, or adding Great Britain to her list of active enemies. 
Germany would not yield, and at once attacked Liege, one of 
the large and important cities of Belgium. 



INTRODUCTION 



GERMANY WAS EEADY. 

The proof that Germany wanted the war, and had been pre- 
paring for it, is set forth in "Conquest and Kultur," a book of 
154 pages, issued by the Committee on Public Information, with 
the approval of the U. S. Government, soon after America 
entered the war. This committee was composed of the Secre- 
tary of State, Secretary of War, Secretary of the Navy, and 
George Creel. 

The book gives the ''Aims of the Germans in Their Own 
Words," and is a translation from Germany's war literature 
covering many years. This is from the introduction: 

It is a motley throng who are here heard in praise of war and inter- 
national suspicion and conquest and intrigue and devastation — emperors, 
kings, princes, poets, philosophers, educators, journalists, legislators, man- 
ufacturers, militarists, statesmen. Before them is the war god to whom 
they have offered up their reason and their humanity; behind them the 
misshapen image they have made of the German people, leering with blood- 
stained visage over the ruins of civilization. 

Here are quotations characteristic of the entire volume: 

The whole German race is called to bind the earth under its control, 
to exploit the natural resources and the physical powers of man. — Lud- 
wig Woltman, Noted Socialist, 1903. 

France must be so completely crushed that she can never again come 
across our path. — F. von Bemhardi, in "Germany and the Next War," 
1911. 

The wDl to war must go hand in hand with the resolution to act on 
the offensive without any scruples. — 'General Keim, October 16, 1912. 

Land, more land, is the old battle-cry which has reverberated without 
ceasing throughout the ages of German history. A nation which tries 
to acquire land exclusively by peaceful means can not hope for success 
or for permanent possession in the general struggle for "a place in the 
sun." — Berliner Neueste Nachrichten (a weekly), March 29, 1913. 

OPPOSITION TO BE CRUSHED. 

That Germany had full confidence in her ability to carry out 
her plans for world supremacy was shown by many utterances 
and publications during the first few months, when her armies, 
prepared and equipped to the last detail for such a mission, were 
daily striking nearer Paris. Here are a few of the quotations: 



20 INTRODUCTION 

Germany is now about to become, mentally and morally, the first nation 
in the world.- — Pastor W. Lehmann, in a Sermon m August, 1914. 

The whole world shall stand open to us, so that, in untrammeled ri- 
valry, we shall unfold the energy of the German nature. — Otto von Gierke, 
Professor of Law in the University of Berlin, 1914. 

Let no man say that every people has a right to its existence, its speech, 
and so forth. If the peoples in question have nothing Germanic about 
them, and are essentially alien to our culture, then the second question 
is in place: Are they in the way of our expansion or not? If not, let 
them develop even as their nature bids them; if they are, to spare them 
would be folly. — Bronswrt von Schellendorf, 1914. 

Aside from many public utterances on world conquest, the 
speed with which Germany moved, proved that she was fully 
prepared. Her armed millions were ready to advance at a 
moment's notice. Eegardless of rights, treaties, or other obliga- 
tions, she rushed into the fray with the insane folly of a mad- 
man. The world stood dazed as one move followed another in 
rapid succession. 

If further proof was needed that Germany was now in the 
war she had desired, it was found on every hand during the 
first few weeks of the conflict. Documents taken from captured 
German of&cers showed that the details had been worked out 
so carefully, evidently even before the assassination of the heir 
to the Austrian throne, that the exact day and hour had been 
set for marching triumphantly into the historic city of Paris. 

It soon became clear that it was the definite purpose of Ger- 
many, after the conquest of France, to attack Great Britain; 
that the subjugation of England was to be followed by sending a 
fleet of ships to the United States to bombard and, if possible, 
capture some of America's great cities on the Atlantic coast, 
levy several billion dollars, and make such other demands upon 
the United States as Germany in her fantastical fancy might 
wish. 

BELGIUM BLOCKS THE WAY. 

The first cheek to the Kaiser's ambitious plans was the stand 
taken by Belgium. This plucky little nation would not violate 



INTRODUCTION H 

its position of neutrality by permitting the Huns — ^who tlien 
referred to the German-Belgium treaty as nothing but "a scrap 
of paper" — ^to march across its soil to attack France. At onco 
manning the fortress at Liege, the Belgians, though weak in 
numbers and resources as compared to the enemy, succeeded in 
wrecking the plans of the Germans, thus giving time for the 
mobilization of the French soldiers, which were hurried to the 
front by every means possible. 

This was followed by the landing in France of several thou- 
sand British soldiers as quickly as ships could carry them across 
the EngKsh Channel. They continued to pour into that country 
in ever-increasing numbers. On August 8, Lord Kitchener called 
for 1,000,000 men. They were enrolled in ten days. By May, 
1916, over 5,000,000 British subjects had volunteered, and when 
the war ended Great Britaia had 7,500,000 men under arms in 
different parts of the world. 

Even though cheeked for a few days, the Germans moved 
steadily forward along the great battle-line, gradually drawing 
closer to Paris, imtil within twenty miles of that city at the 
nearest point. This was the first German objective. So nearly 
did it approach realization that on September 3 the seat of the 
French Government was moved from Paris to Bordeaux, as a 
precautionary measure. 

The French, aided by the brave Belgians and the persistent 
British, fought with a desperation and courage that simply 
woidd not longer give way to the powerful attacks of the enemy. 
The decisive blow in stopping the Huns' initial move toward 
Paris was struck under the leadership of Joffre, on September 
6, when, in what has been termed the first battle of the Marne, 
French troops turned back the Kaiser's soldiers. 

In the meantime, Turkey and Bulgaria had entered the war 
on the side of Germany and Austria-Hungary, constituting what 
were known as the "Central Powers." Their opponents were 
designated as the "Allies." 



12 INTRODUCTION 

On May 23, 1915, Italy declared war against Austria- 
Hungary, and on August 20 of the same year, against 
Turkey, thus uniting the force of heroic Italians also with the 
Allies. 

SINKING OF THE "LUSITANIA." 

The United States maintained a position of neutrality until 
Germany proclaimed her policy of submarine warfare within 
certain limits around the British Isles, known as a "war zone." 
This was announced on February 4, 1915, to go into effect on 
February 18. On February 10 the United States Government 
sent a note to the German Government stating that the latter 
would be held strictly accountable if any vessel of tjie United 
States was destroyed or any American lives were lost by this 
procedure. 

On May 7, 1915, the steamship "Lusitania" was torpedoed 
and sunk by a German submarine, with the loss of 1,154 lives, 
of whom 114 were Americans. 

Protests, explanations and diplomatic correspondence con- 
tinued, as did the sinking of more ships and the loss of more 
lives, until, on January 31, 1917, like a bolt of lightning from 
a clear sky came the proclamation from the German Government 
that it would Inaugurate "unrestricted submarine warfare" in 
certain specified zones. 

This ended the prolonged controversy for America, On Feb- 
ruary 3 the United States severed diplomatic relations with Ger- 
many, and on April 6 of that year declared war. 

''hands across the sea." 

On May 26, or just fifty days later, American soldiers, imder 
the command of Gen. John J. Pershing, landed in France, and 
on November 3 had their first clash with the Germans. When 
the war came to a close the United States had in round numbers 
about 2,000,000 soldiers in France, besides 200,000 in other 



INTRODUCTION [3 

foreign countries. The largest number sent overseas in any one 
month was 307,000, which was in July, 1918. 

As the war continued, other countries were drawn into the 
maelstrom of destruction, until the Allies numbered twenty-three, 
the list being as follows: 

Belgium, Brazil, China, Costa Eica, Cuba, France, Great 
Britain, Guatemala, Greece, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, 
Liberia, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Panama, Portugal, Eussia, 
Rumania, Serbia, Siam and the United States. 

The Official United States Bulletin, at the close of the war, 
gave a complete list of the declarations of war and severances of 
diplomatic relations in connection with the giant struggle. The 
list, as given herewith, shows that a number of nations severed 
diplomatic relations with each other, but did not declare war: 

DECLARATIONS OP WAR. 

Austria vs. Serbia, July 28, 1914. 

Austria vs. Eussia, August 6, 1914. 

Austria vs. Montenegro, August 9, 1914. 

Austria vs. Japan, August 27, 1914. . 

Austria vs. Belgium, August 28, 1914. 

Belgium vs. Germany, August 4, 1914. 

Brazil vs. Germany, October 26, 1917. 

Bulgaria vs. Serbia, October 14, 1915. 

Bulgaria vs. Eumania, September 1, 1916. 

China vs. Germany and Austria, August 14, 1917. 

Costa Eica vs. Germany, May 23, 1918. 

Cuba vs. Germany, April 7, 1917. 

Cuba vs. Austria, December 16, 1917. 

France vs. Germany, August 3, 1914. 

France vs. Austria, August 12, 1914. 

France vs. Bulgaria, October 16, 1915. 

France vs. Turkey, November 5, 1914. 

Germany vs. Eussia, August 1, 1914. 



14 INTRODUCTION 

Germany vs. France, August 3, 1914. 

Germany vs. Belgium, August 4, 1914. 

Germany vs. Portugal, March 9, 1916. 

Germany vs. Eumania, August 28, 1916. 

Great Britain vs. Germany, August 4, 1914. 

Great Britain vs. Austria, August 13, 1914. 

Great Britain vs. Turkey, November 5, 1914. 

Great Britain vs. Bulgaria, October 15, 1915. 

Greece (Provisional Government) vs. Germany and Bulgaria, 
November 28, 1916. 

Greece (Alexander Government) vs. Germany and Bulgaria, 
July 2, 1917. 

Guatemala vs. Germany, April 21, 1918. 

Haiti vs. Germany, July 15, 1918. 

Honduras vs. Germany, July 19, 1918. 

Italy vs. Austria, May 24, 1915. 

Italy vs. Turkey, August 21, 1915. 

Italy vs. Bulgaria, October 19, 1915. 

Italy vs. Germany, August 28, 1916. 

Japan vs. Germany, August 23, 1914. 

Liberia vs. Germany, August 4, 1917. 

Montenegro vs. Austria, August 8, 1914. 

Montenegro vs. Germany, August 9, 1914. 

Nicaragua vs. Germany and Austria, May 6, 1918. 

Panama vs. Germany, April 7, 1917. 

Panama vs. Austria, December 10, 1917. 

Portugal vs. Germany, resolution authorizing intervention 
aa an ally of England, November 23, 1914, and military aid 
granted May 19, 1915. 

Eumania vs. Austria, August 27, 1916. 

Russia vs. Germany, August 7, 1914. 

Russia vs. Turkey, November 3, 1914. 

Russia vs. Bulgaria, October 19, 1915. 

Serbia vs. Germany, August 6, 1914. 



INTRODUCTION 15 

Siam vs. Germany and Austria, July 22, 1917. 
Turkey (Holy War) vs. Allies, November 11, 1914. 
Turkey vs. Eumania, August 29, 1916. 
United States vs. Germany, April 6, 1917. 
United States vs. Austria, December 7, 1917. 

DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS SEVERED. 

Austria vs. Serbia, July 26, 1914. 
Austria vs. Japan, August 26, 1914. 
Austria vs. Portugal, March 15, 1916. 
Austria vs. United States, April 8, 1917. 
Belgium vs. Turkey, October 30, 1914. 
Bolivia vs. Germany, April 14, 1917. 
Brazil vs. Germany, April 11, 1917. 
China vs. Germany, March 14, 1917. 
Costa Rica vs. Germany, September 21, 1917. 
Ecuador vs. Germany, December 7, 1917. 
Egypt vs. Germany, August 13, 1914. 
France vs. Austria, August 11, 1914. 
France vs. Turkey, October 30, 1914. 
Germany vs. Italy, May 23, 1915, 
Great Britain vs. Turkey, October 30, 1914. 
Greece vs. Austria and Turkey, July 2, 1917. 
Guatemala vs. Germany, April 27, 1917. 
Haiti vs. Germany, June 16, 1917. 
Honduras vs. Germany, May 17, 1917. 
Japan vs. Austria, August 25, 1914. 
Liberia vs. Germany, May 8, 1917. 
Nicaragua vs. Germany, May 19, 1917. 
Peru vs. Germany, October 5, 1917. 
Rumania vs. Bulgaria, August 30, 1916. 
Eussia vs. Turkey, October 30, 1914. 
Eussia vs. Bulgaria, October 19, 1915. 
Eussia vs. Rumania, January 28, 1918. 
2 



16 INTRODUCTION 

Santo Domingo vs. Germany, June 8, 1917. 

Turkey vs. United States, April 20, 1917. 

United States vs. Germany, February 3, 1917. 

Uruguay vs. Germany, October 7, 1917. 

The first declaration of war was that of Austria against 
Serbia, on July 28, 1914, two days after the severance of diplo- 
matic relations. The last declaration of war was that of Hon- 
duras against Germany, on July 19, 1918. 

The months in which war was declared or diplomatic rela- 
tions severed, during the continuance of the great conflict, are 
here given, together with the number in such months: 

1914 — ^July, 2; August, 20; October, 5; November, 5. 

1915 — May, 3; August, 1; October, 5. 

1916 — March, 2; August, 5; November 1. 

1917 — February, 1; March 1; April, 8; May, 2; June, 2; 
July, 3; August, 2; September, 1; October, 3; December, 3. 

1918— January, 1; April, 1; May, 2; July, 2. 

The nations at war, including their subjects in colonies and 
otherwise, had an estimated population of three-fourths of the 
world's inhabitants; that is, 1,200,000,000 people out of 1,600,- 
000,000. 

SUBMARINES AND AEROPLANES. 

The war brought to the front two comparatively modem 
inventions — ^the aeroplane and the submarine. These were used 
effectively by the nations at war. For a time the German under- 
sea warfare was very destructive, but as nearly two hundred of 
her submarines were sunk or captured by the Allies, by the use 
of depth bombs and other means, the menace was practically at 
an end shortly before the war closed. 

Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty of Great 
Britain, announced that 15,000 men of the Allies lost their lives 
due to submarine and mine warfare, and that 2,475 merchant 
ships and 679 fishiag-vessels were sunk. 



INTRODUCTION 17 

In October, 1916, a German submarine appeared off the 
Atlantic coast of America and sank six merchant ships near Nan- 
tucket, Massachusetts. This created quite a sensation, bringing 
with it the realization that the undersea boats could go long distances 
from their base of supplies, but within a few days all fear of seri- 
ous damage was abated by the vigilance of our coast defenders. 

Air-fighting, while spectacular, did not result in a great num- 
ber of deaths, but more in the loss of property. For instance, 
notwithstanding the many air raids over London and other 
English cities, only 365 persons were reported killed in sixty-six 
municipal districts, while the wounded numbered 1,147 — casualties 
that would seem small when compared to just one big battle. 

The property damage from air raids in England, however, 
reached $4,500,000, and was also heavy in France. Allied air- 
bombers did extensive damage to German railway, ammunition 
and supply stations, in some places destroying great storehouses 
and whole trains of supplies. 

The large number of aeroplanes brought down in air battles 
also meant a considerable iuiancial loss to the different Govern- 
ments engaged. One important service rendered in flying was 
that of spying out and photographing the enemy positions. 

AWFUL SACRiriCE OF LIFE. 

The total number of deaths due to the war has been variously 
placed at from 8,000,000 to 10,000,000. The following table, 
based upon careful estimates and official reports, includes only 
the principal countries at war: 

Men in Abms. Lives Lost. Casualties. 

United States 3,764,700 58,478 236,117 

Great Britain 7,500,000 706,726 3,049,991 

France 6,000,000 1,071,300 4,000,000 

Italy 5,000,000 500,000 2,000,000 

Russia 14,000,000 1,700,000 3,300,000 

Belgium 350,000 50,000 300,000 

Serbia _ 300,000 150,000 200,000 

Rumania . — 600,000 200,000 300,000 



18 INTRODUCTION 

Men in Aems. Lives Lost. CASXTAXiTrES. 

G-ermany _ 11,000,000 1,600,000 4,000,000 

Austria-Hungary 7,500,000 800,000 4,000,000 

Turkey ... „ _ _ 1,500,000 250,000 750,000 

Bulgaria 1,000,000 50,000 200,000 

Total 58,514,700 7,136,504 22,336,108 

If the bodies of those slain in the war could be placed in 
caskets, side by side, allowing only two feet for each, they would 
make a line longer than from New York to San Francisco. 
Should a person start out to take a last look upon the face of 
each of these dead soldiers, allowing only one minute for each, 
it would require nearly two whole years to do so, with never a 
pause in the sad mission. 

The foregoing table does not include the massacres by the 
Turks during the period of the war, which numbered 1,600,000. 
Of this number, 900,000 were Armenians and 700,000 Greeks. In 
addition, 200,000 mobilized Greeks were put to death by the 
Turks or died of their sufferings. 

The total cost of the war to the principal Allies fighting 
against the Central Powers was about $120,000,000,000. 

WHEN THRONES CKUMBLED. 

After the war had continued four years, three months and 
fourteen days, it came to a close with a glorious victory for the 
Allies. The last few weeks of the struggle were full of dramatic 
and sensational happenings. Events of- world-importance followed 
each other with a rapidity that was amazing. From about the 
middle of July, 1918, to the signing of the armistice, which 
meant the end of the war, there was one continuous series of 
defeats for the Central Powers. Seeing that the instigator of the 
awful carnage of battle was being so badly worsted, the other 
nations deserted Germany until Maximilian Harden uttered these 
desolate words: "We are alone." 

Bulgaria was the first to break away, surrendering on Sep- 
tember 30, 1918. Turkey followed on October 31, and Austria- 



INTRODUCTION 19 

Hungary on November 4. Germany signed the armistice and 
surrendered on November 11, 1918. 

In the last momentous days, rulers abdicated their thrones 
one after another and fled for their lives as their monarchies 
crumbled before the fury of their long-suffering and oppressed 
people. Although the Emperor of Germany fled to Holland on 
November 10, he did not sign his abdication decree until the 28th 
of the month. 

ANOTHER ''scrap OF PAPER." 

The armistice was signed the day following the flight of the 
Kaiser, by four representatives of Germany, and the little ''scrap 
of paper" to which they attached their names was tantamount 
to full surrender; a confession that, after aU, German "kultur" 
had failed, and that the nation of supermen, as the Germans 
had thought themselves to be, were but the most pitiful of 
weaklings. 

Thus ended one of the most audacious dreams that ever ;^os- 
sessed a human being — considering the age in which it all occurred 
— a, vision of world-conquest, for William HohenzoUern, the Ger- 
man Emperor, who claimed partnership with God, had persuaded 
more than 150,000,000 other human beings to believe in his wild 
dream. This poor wreck of a man, who happened to be born of 
"royal blood" — ^blood with a tainted strain in it and which was 
supposed to have given him his withered arm — was finally com- 
pelled to hurriedly sneak away like a hunted criminal from the 
fury of his own people. 

Following the defeat of Germany's land forces was the dra- 
matic surrender of her great navy — "the Kaiser's pride and 
pet," as one writer expressed it. The Kaiser had said: "Our 
future lies on the water. Neither on the ocean nor across it in 
the distance can any great decision be again consummated with- 
out Germany and the German Empire. The trident must pass 
into our hands. ' ' 



20 INTRODUCTION 

In 1890, two years after William Hohenzollern ascended the 
throne, the German navy was placed directly under this ambitious 
ruler's authority. It was by building this up that he expected 
to gain control of the sea, and thus help mightily in the realiza- 
tion of his dream. 

I UNPARALLELED NAVAL SPECTACLE. 

On November 22, in accordance with the terms of the armis- 
tice, the heart of Germany's mighty navy surrendered to an 
armada of allied vessels. Seventy-four German war-ships — six- 
teen great battle-ships and cruisers, eight light cruisers and fifty 
submarines — in a single line almost twenty miles long, appeared 
at the appointed time and place, and were led into the Firth of 
Forth, between double columns of British, French and American 
battle-ships, which overlapped the Germans at each end. Other 
German ships and 113 additional submarines were given up at a 
later date, thus for the time leaving Germany practically helpless 
as a sea power. 

A surrender on such a gigantic scale has no precedent in 
history. To the men who witnessed the scene, it seemed scarcely 
credible. History teUs of many good ships which were surren- 
dered under stress of battle, and of many others which faced 
destruction rather than surrender, but the German navy, rated the 
second in the world at the beginning of the war, submitted in 
abject obedience to enemy demands without the firing of a shot. 

Even the Chinese, the Eussian and the Spanish navies went 
out to meet the foe, full well knowing their superiority. They 
were not afraid to face death; they were not cowards. Their 
conduct was in sharp contrast with that of the German naval 
officers. 

COWARDICE AND TREACHERY. 

Yet it should not have been surprising. The man who tries 
to intimidate in frightfulness is never a brave man. The strong 



INTRODUCTION 2\_ 

man who glories in killing women ajid children could be nothing 
else than a coward. The nation that murdered and destroyed 
ruthlessly was not a brave nation. So its navy made one show of 
fight, off Skagerrack, in 1916, and then went slinking back with- 
out the courage ever to come out and again fight on equal terms. 

Knowing that cowardice is first cousin to treachery, the allied 
commanders took no chances, even after the Germans had agreed 
to the surrender, in writing, just as it did finally take place. 

Every allied ship in the long double lines of fighting vessels 
on either side of the German ships, flew battle ensigns and was 
ready for instant action, with the men at battle stations and 
guns in position for the prompt destruction of the enemy's forces 
should the slightest effort be made to betray the terms of sur- 
render, as agreed to in the armistice signed on November 11. 

"We are overlooking no chances against making the wind-up 
of this show a big success," said Eear- Admiral Rodman to the 
Associated Press correspondent, shortly before the surrender was 
effected. 

AMERICA'S PART IN THE "WAR. 

While there is no disposition in America to boast of the 
accomplishments of our men overseas, it would be unpatriotic and 
disloyal to minimize the noble work they did and the sacrifices 
they made. No nation is worthy of life, liberty and the pursuit 
of happiness whose citizens have not due respect and admiration 
for the glorious achievements of its champions and defenders in 
the time of danger. 

American blood means American liberty, and as long as blood 
flows in the veins of the men and women of this country, so long 
will they stand against any and every power on earth that would 
attempt to drag the ideals of American manhood and woman- 
hood into the dust. 

That this is true is shown in the part the United States 
took in the great war. For the attainment of these high ideals 



22 INTRODUCTION 

America spent her dollars by the billions and armed her men by 
the millions, with no expectation nor desire for one foot more of 
soil, nor for the return of one dollar of the billions poured out 
for the defense of the right. 

TRUTH STKANGEK THAN FICTION. 

It was inevitable that out of such a world-conflict should be 
developed exceptional traits of character. 

That truth in action stranger than the wildest fiction should 
come to the surface. 

That the unusual circumstances would test the courage 
and character of the fighters as they had never before been 
tested. 

That the initiative and resourcefulness of individuals would 
find opportunity for the very limit of human accomplishments. 

That temptations would, in many instances, be proportionate 
to the unusual surroundings into which tens of thousands of 
young men were thrown. 

That even with all the horrors of war there would be silver 
linings to dark clouds. 

That, in the face of much to discourage and cast down, there 
would be unexpected humorous situations, when the optimist 
would have his chance to laugh and relax, and, because of hia 
ability to see both sides of a situation, go forth for better service 
for humanity. 

Growing out of all this has come such a wealth of episodes 
to be treasured that "Stories of the Great War" will be told 
over and over again, in this and succeeding generations, as long 
as history is read. 

For the convenience of the public speaker, as well as for the 
one who desires a record of many of these unusual incidents, 
has this collection of over four hundred stories of the war been 
assembled, covering a wide range of subjects, as will be seen in 
the table of contents and cross-references. 



INTRODUCTION 23 

May the noble deeds of heroism and sacrifice here given 
inspire every hearer and every reader to better living; to more 
efficient service for humanity, not only in America, but through- 
out the world, that liberty and justice may be the rich inheritance 
of all men in all lands. Will H. Brown. 

Oakland, California. 



CLASSIFIED STORIES 

ACHIEVEMENT 

ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THE WAR. 

The German gun which shelled Paris from a distance of 
seventy-six miles was one of the big surprises of the 
war. Considered purely aside from the cruelty of the con- 
ception, it is marvelous to think of firing a gun that distance 
with such accuracy as to hit buildings and do some damage with 
practically every shot fired. 

About the fifteenth shell struck a church on Good Friday 
and killed and wounded 150 women and children. A few days 
later another struck a children's hospital, killing and mangling 
forty of the little ones in their beds, with their attendant nurses. 

As soon as French airmen succeeded in locating this monster 
gun, in the Forest of St. Gobian, and the distance from Paris 
was made known, Professor Mallock, an English scientist, endeav- 
ored to estimate the probable size of the gun, and other features 
connected with its operation. 

His conclusion was that its length must be about seventy 
feet; its angle of elevation fifty degrees; that the shells would 
leave it with an initial velocity of a mile a second, and that 
they would weigh four hundred pounds each; that the height to 
which the projectiles would rise would be about seventeen miles. 

He sent this calculation to the English scientific journal, 
Nature. Just as the number containing it was ready to go to 
press there came a report from a French artillery officer who 

25 



26 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

had been made a prisoner by the Germans and had seen the 
great gun and had seen it fired. 

He reported that the gun was eighty feet in length, instead 
of seventy; that the shells each weighed three hundred and fifty 
pounds instead of four hundred; that the initial velocity was five 
thousand feet to the second — ^almost exactly as estimated by 
Mallock; and that the height reached by the projectiles was 
eighteen miles, instead of the estimate of seventeen. 

That a man, without seeing the gun, could make a calculation 
so nearly correct as did Professor Mallock, seems almost as great 
a marvel as the weapon itself. 

WHY ONE SEEGEANT WAS PROMOTED. 

The man with an idea was in demand in the war, the same 
as he is in civil life. While an American general in France was 
discussing with his staff the problem of building a two-mile 
support trench across a flat spot in the American sector on the 
western front, where the German guns dominated the place, an 
engineering sergeant, who was with the group as a guide, could 
hardly control himself. He had an idea. Finally he spoke. 

"It's not military for me to suggest, sir," he said to the 
general, "but if you will give me 1,000 men to-night, I'll have 
the two-mile trench dug before morning and before the Germans 
know it." 

The general smiled and asked the sergeant how he could do it. 
He was ready with a plausible explanation. The general ordered 
1,000 men for the job, and as soon as it was dark the work 
began. Each group knew exactly where to begin and what to do. 
They dug speedily and quietly, and every time a German flare 
went up they dropped to the ground or stood motionless. Not a 
German gun was fired in that direction during the night. 

When the sun rose the following morning, the German look- 
outs opposite gazed down in amazement on a brand-new trench. 
The Huns threw over a barrage, but it was too late, for the dig- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 27 

gers were gone, and the Yanks in^ the trenches were safe in 
dugouts. 

Because he had an idea, and knew how to execute it, the ser- 
geant was promoted to lieutenant. 

ACTIVITY 

THE FIGHT FEELING INSIDE. 

A unit of negroes from America was moving up to take its 
place in the line of battle on one of the memorable occasions 
of the war in France, and everybody was tense with anxiety to 
get into the fight. One of the dusky privates called out from 
over in the brush to the left: 

"Hey, sergeant, when we all goin' to find dem Boches?" 

"Never yo' mind, child! You all gonna find plenty of dem 
BochesI" 

"Well, I she hop© so, sergeant," came the voice. "If I 
don't get rid ob dis mean feelin' in heah 'fore long, I'se gwine 
to carve up on de mess sergeant, sho ! " 

WOMEN AND MEN IN WARTIME. 

Knitting, saving, fanning, drilling. 
Clerking, canning, driving, milling. 
Praying, serving, waiting, bearing. 
Giving, cheering, nursing, sharing, 

While we fight against the Hun 

Woman's work is never done. 

Marching, digging, bombing, firing, 

Bayoneting, gassing, wiring. 

Shipping, diving, tanking, flying, 

Holding, shelling, charging, dying, 
While we fight the Hun afar 
Man's work lasts from star to star. 

— New York Sim. 

WHEN KNITTING WAS IN ORDER. 

The average person living at the time of the great war will 
long remember one phase of American life — ^that everywhere 



28 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

one went he was greeted with the sight of good women knitting. 
It was socks and sweaters for our soldier boys in the camps and 
in France — a splendid service rendered by mothers, sisters, wives 
and sweethearts J yes, and by some men, be it said to their credit, 
when time and circumstances permitted. 

Here are verses given wide circulation in the press, but with 
no name attached — perhaps written by some soldier: 

"If you can not sail the ocean, knit a sock; 
Ton can keep yourself in motion, knit a sock. 

Though, you can not shine and glitter. 

It's not fair to be a quitter, 
Do not be an idle critter, knit a sock. 

"If you'd make your burden lighter, knit a sock; 
If you'd have the world look brighter, knit a sock; 

If your lot you wish were better, 

Make some soldier boy your debtor, 
If you can not knit a sweater, knit a sock." 

AMERICA 

CONDITIONS HERE AND ABROAD. 

Frank H. Benson, floor leader of the California State Senate, 
returning to America, in the summer of 1918, after spending 
seven months on the western front in France, spoke with much 
feeling concerning conditions over there. He said: 

"Things here seem so trivial now, compared with the tremen- 
dousness of the task across the sea. Business men are complain- 
ing here in America. If they could witness the worn, haggard 
business men of Chateau-Thierry raking through the ashes and 
ruins of their city to see if they can not save some little piece 
of merchandise, they would never complain again. 

"There is no romance about fighting. Over there our Amer- 
ican boys go into the fight with a yell and a dash that carries 
all before them. They throw away even their rations, and come 
back from the battles with their clothes torn from their bodies. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 29 

Battles are things of great weariness, going without sleep, being 
mangled, killed, or living for days after in an indescribable 
stench, and horror that robs war of every vestige of glory or 
romance. ' ' 

"TOECH OF THE WORLD." 

The poem with this title, by Angela Morgan, dedicated to 
President Wilson just prior to the beginning of the fourth 
Liberty Loan campaign, is preceded by this quotation from Isa. 
9:2: *'The people that walked in darkness have seen a great 
light; they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon 
them hath a great light shined." 

The poem, after picturing the unselfishness of America in her 
j^art of the great war for world-wide freedom, closes with this 
verse : 

"Oh, country, whose noble confession 

Hath given the voiceless a tongue, 
Who hath sounded the doom of oppression 

As far as thine armies are flung. 
To the crippled and weak of the nations 

Hast thou uttered the Master's decree, 
And thy word, it hath set the foundations 

Of that glorious kingdom to be. 
Come swiftly, oh, wondrous to-morrow. 

That shall render to Justice a soul, 
When the nations shall rise from their sorrow, 

The sick and the helpless be whole. 
Let us cry it aloud from the steeple, 

Let us shout where the darkness is hurled, 
'Lo, look to the light of the people, 

America, Torch of the World 1' " 

THE WAR AND IMMIGRATION. 

The effect the war had on immigration to the United States 
was natural, but none the less impressive. It was reduced to a 
lower tide than had been known since 1844, with the single excep- 
tion of the Civil War year, 1862. 

Only 110,618 immigrants reached this country for the year 
ending June 30, 1918. Deducting from this number the 94,855 



30 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

aliens who departed from our shores during the same period of 
time, there was left a net gain of only 15,763, against the annual 
million that we had been netting before the war. 

It will thus be seen that America's immigration problem 
disappeared for the time, while the problem of the aliens already 
within our boundaries was rendered less formidable by the chang- 
ing processes of war preparation. With men of all races fighting 
shoulder to shoulder, and women of all nationalities toiling side 
by side, the unity of America was advanced as never before in 
recent times. 

SERIOUS LESSON FOR AMERICA. 

*'We live and learn." The war brought home to Americans, 
in many ways, the fact that we had not done our duty by the 
millions of immigrants who have come to our shores to enjoy 
the blessings of American liberty. We permitted little groups 
of other nationalities to live in our American cities much as they 
lived before they came to the United States, with no serious effort 
to make good, true, loyal Americans of them. 

In other words, we attempted, in many places, to adjust our 
customs to fit them instead of attempting to adjust them to fit 
our customs. As a consequence, there were literally millions 
within our borders who had but little more conception of the 
principles of American government and liberty than the inhab- 
itants of darkest Africa. 

The lesson for America was stated in plain words by United 
States District Judge Charles F. Amidon, of North Dakota, in 
passing sentence upon a seditionist of German birth, in 1918 — a 
German who had become a naturalized American citizen, but 
literally outside the influence of American ideas and ideals. Said 
this judge: 

"There have been a good many Germans before me the last 
month. They had lived in this country ten, twenty, thirty, forty 
years, and they had to give thedr evidence through an interpreter. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 31 

As I looked at them and tried as best I could to understand 
them, there was written all over every one of them, 'Made iu 
Germany.' American life had not dimmed that mark in the 
least. It stood there as bright and fresh as the inscription 
upon a new coin. 

" I do not blame you and these men alone. I blame myself. 
I blame my country. We urged you to come. We welcomed you. 
We gave you opportunity. We gave you land. We conferred 
upon you the diadem of American citizenship — ^and then we left 
you. We paid no attention to what you have been doing. 

**And now the world war has thrown a searchlight upon our 
national life, and what have we discovered? We find all over 
these United States, in groups, little Germanys, little Italys, little 
Austrias, little Norways, little Russias. 

"A clever gentleman wrote a romance called 'America, the 
Melting-pot.' It appealed to our vanity, and through all these 
years we have been seeing romance instead of fact. That is the 
awful truth." 

The weakness having been discovered and so clearly pointed 
out, it is now the duty of every loyal native-born citizen to do 
his part in making every adopted citizen worthy of the flag 
under which he lives. 

APPRECIATION 

FOUND GERMAN TO SUIT HIM. 

An American captain found a German prisoner at a railroad 
station in a recaptured French town, who had lost an eye, an 
ear, a leg, an arm, and his face was smashed in. The captain 
gave the wounded man some money. 

"Thank you, Captain; you have a kind heart," said the 
prisoner. 

"Kind heart? That isn't it," came the reply. "You're the 
first Hun I've seen who is shot up to suit me." 
3 



32 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

KIND WOEDS OF WOUNDED SOLDIEE. 

Miss Elsie Janis, who spent six months in France, singing 
and entertaining soldiers in training-camps and hospitals, was 
one day expressing her sympathy for a soldier who had lost an 
arm. 

*'It might have been worse," said the man, earnestly. "I 
might have lost my eyesight, and then I should not have been 
able to see you." 

In speaking of the incident, she said: 

**Coidd any one ask for a greater reward?" 

CHINESE BUY LIBERTY BONDS. 

Many bonds of the fourth Liberty Loan, sold in the autumn 
of 1918, were bought by the citizens of China. In Shanghai 
alone subscriptions to the loan amounted to $250,000 on the 
second day of the sale. Leading Chinese editors pushed the loan 
through their columns, and one of them expressed the prevailing 
sentiment of the whole country when he said: 

** Since China is sharing the advantages of American leader- 
ship, the Chinese should share the expenses." 

Thus Liberty bonds helped to imite the bonds of friendship 
of the two republics separated by the great Pacific. 

PERSHING'S TRIBUTE TO HIS MEN. 

When Gen. John J. Pershing made his official report to the 
Government of the United States, giving an account of his stew- 
ardship as commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in 
the great war, he closed with these wonderful words of apprecia- 
tion : 

"I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the 
line. When I think of their heroism, their patience under hard- 
ships, their imflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with 
emotion which I am iinable to express. Their deeds are immortal, 
and they have earned the eternal gratitude of our country." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 33 

BOYS APPEECIATE^ SOLDIERS. 

Leave it to the right-thinking boy to prove his patriotism. A 
soldier in Birmingham, England, was transferred to a hospital 
for special treatment for his wounded leg. On his way to the 
station he had difficulty in dragging a heavy kit-bag after him, 
and was passed by a number of men who made no offer to help. 
Presently a small porter-boy saw him, and promptly seized his 
bag and carried it to the train. The wounded soldier put his 
hand into his pocket to pay the youngster, but the lad ran off, 
saying with a backward glance of admiration for the man: 

"1 don't think! Not after what you have done!" 

THINKS FRENCH EXCEL IN KEYS. 

Kenneth McKim, first lieutenant in the U. S. Signal Corps, a 
California soldier, in a letter written in France to a friend in 
America, says of the city of Paris: 

It is one of the few shows I've seen that lived up to its press notices. 
No wonder the Crown Prince of Germany wanted to get to Paris! To 
own Paris would be worth a dozen wars. From which you may Judge that 
I consider it some town. 

But San Francisco, if she is what she used to be, will look better to 
me after this row than Paris. I don't want to go home while the war 
is on, but when it is over I want to get back to California and spend 
the rest of my life in a bathtub. Paris has everything else in the world 
that a man of my temperament and training might desire — except bath- 
tubs. I got a bath in Paris, but had to go to the ofB.ce of an army officer 
to get it. 

There's one thing the French have that I like. A door-key here is 
about the size of a monkey-wrench. I'm going to takS a French lock home 
with me and put it on my fronts door, so I can get in at night. 

GRAY HAIRS NO BAR TO SERVICE. 

When the United States entered the war and young men 
were called to the colors by the hundreds of thousands, there 
was at first a shortage of labor in many lines. It was especially 
difficult to get efficient office help. Victor T. J. Gannon, manager 
of the Employers' Association of Chicago, wrote an article, in 



34_ STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

August, 1918, showing how the handicap was overcome many 
times by employing men past middle life who had heretofore 
been turned down because of the mistaken theory that they were 
too old to fill places satisfactorily. He relates a typical instaiice. 
It was of a man a few years ovsr fifty who came to his office: 

** 'They say you can find work for old men/ he began, with 
doubt in his voice and manner. 

" 'Tou are not old/ I told him, smiling. He returned the 
Bmile as he replied: 

" *I have been told for years, wherever I sought employment, 
that I was too old.' 

** 'You won't be insulted if I suggest a shave and hair-cut, 
will you?' 

" 'Oh, no; I realize that, but I can not' — 

" 'We will attend to that,' I told him. 

"Four months later a handsome man, rather stout, ruddy, 
well dressed, stepped up to my desk and said he could get employ- 
ment for four men of about fifty years of age. 

* ' It was the same man. It was difficult to recognize him. He 
told me the most of his story, and from the concern where he 
worked I got the rest of it. He was started at $15 per week. 
Within a week he was promoted, and finally placed in. an execu- 
tive position. In four months' time his salary had been increased 
to $50 per week." 

The association of which Mr. Gannon was manager had up 
to that time placed over nine thousand men between the ages 
of forty-five and seventy-nine in good positions, and the great 
majority of them did the work in a highly satisfactory maimer. 

It is another important lesson learned from war experience 
that Mr. Gannon gives in his conclusion: 

"The employers of the country are beginning to wake up to 
the fact that the man past forty-five is a valuable asset. The 
elderly man is slowly coming back into his own. Employers are 
learning to value the gray-haired man, learning to value his 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 35 

services, his trustworthiness and Jiis constant plugging that 
achieves far more than the sporadic spurts of the younger man." 

THE U. S. MAEINES WERE EEADY. 

The commanding officer of two thousand Marines, who par- 
ticipated in the severe fighting at Belleau Woods in France, took 
his place in front of the men who were lined up at attention, 
and said: 

**We want volunteers for extra hazardous duty. Men who are 
ready to take the risk, step one pace to the front." 

The entire force of two thousand stepped forward as one man. 
This was the spirit of our men in France — the American spirit 
everywhere. 

But the commanding officer had a twinMe in his eye, observed 
by those nearest him. The hazardous duty was to go to Paris to 
march in the Fourth of July parade. The beauty of it was that 
not a man there knew of it in advance. 

This regiment of Marines had known what fighting was. They 
had stopped the Huns on that momentous day when they charged 
seven times and had held the line during the fiercest fighting at 
the apex of the drive. 

When they reached Paris they were showered with flowers, 
while the air was filled with shouts of joy. The people lining 
the avenues by the tens of thousands acclaimed our splendid 
American Marines the saviors of their city. 

A FRENCH HOME HIS HOME. 

Here is a charming sidelight on the feeling of appreciation 
of the French toward America. A French teacher wrote a letter 
to the father of an American soldier, in which he said: 

**We found the soldier (which proved to be your son) sitting 
on the quai, in front of my grandfather's house. He seemed so 
lonely that we were desirous of offering him our friendship. By 
degrees we came to know each other more, and now we are 



36 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

friends. Your son is a nice boy, and we love him very much 
already. Our home will be his home. 

*'If I were a French soldier in America, and you welcomed 
me in your home, that would make me happy. When your son 
will go on to the front you may be sure that during his leaves 
of absence his room will be in our home. We shall always be 
happy to receive him." 

BEITISH LIKE AMERICAN SLANG. 

The English and French seem to have fallen in love with the 
American soldier. Many columns have been published about his 
chivalrous attitude toward the ladies, his kindness to the children, 
military bearing, and what has been termed "the charm of hia 
native slang.'* 

This last characteristic brought forth a long letter in the 
London Daily Mail, in which the writer, a nurse, refers to some 
of the expressions heard in his ward in a hospital : 

The American soldier came over "the big drink" some months 
ago. He had a pleasant voyage, saw no "tin fish," and had 
plenty to eat — ^"six meals a day, three down and three up." On 
arrival at the port they got into "the dinkiest little train ever." 
Before it started, his captain "asked for a key to wind it up 
with." The soldier said that personally he was going to "take 
one home for a watch-charm." 

They went into camp, he said, where they spent the time 
"hiking" about the country. The "eats" here were not over- 
good. They were given fish "that was never caught, but must 
have given itself up." The one thing that really "got their 
goat" was having to sleep on terra firma. That, said the soldier, 
was Latin for "terribly hard." 

While in France he had difi&culty in making his wants known. 
On one occasion he went into a store after a pair of duck shoes, 
where there was a French woman in charge. He couldn't make 
her understand, either by talking or making signs. Finally he 



FOR PVBUC SPEAKERS 57 

remembered he had learned to imitate a duck almost to perfec- 
tion, and let forth a loud "quaek, quack, quack I" as he pointed 
to his feet, but the woman only looked at him dumbfounded. 
In relating the incident he said she couldn't "get wise" to 
what he meant. 

The nurse, near the close of the letter, says: 

It is my duty to hand the soldier his letters, and to-day, as he read a 
TOlnminous epistle, his face brightened to such an extent that I was forced 
to ask what good tidings had arrived. He hesitated, blushed, then grinned. 
"I don't mind telling you, nurse," he said. "It's my wife writing, and, 
from what she says, I calculate when I get home there'll be something be- 
sides a fence running around my little place in Seattle." 

PERSHING IN PARIS AFTER VICTORY. 

One of the wildest demonstrations in the history of Paris, the 
city of so many great gatherings, surpassed only by the recep- 
tion accorded President Wilson upon his arrival there in Decem- 
ber, 1918, occurred as an entirely iaformal affair, when General 
Pershing, a few days after the surrender of the Germans, made 
his appearance on the streets in an automobile. His presence 
there was simply a matter of a little business, but the enthusiastic 
French people turned it into a great celebration. 

As his car was proceeding along the Rue Rivoli, a French 
girl, with half a dozen flags of the Allies twined about her head, 
cried out in a frenzy of delighted surprise: 

"General Pershing 1 General Pershing! " 

The cry was instantly taken up, and passed up and down the 
boulevards and over the city like wild-fire. Men and women 
rushed hither and thither, screaming his name in mad joy. 
Almost as if by magic the people rushed out on the streets, 
nmning and jostling in their eagerness to get sight of the man 
whom they looked upon as their deliverer from the cruel Huns, 
until the crowd was estimated at half a million. 

Soon his car was surrounded. Instead of closing his window, 
and urging the driver to hasten on, he stopped and let down 



38 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

the window full length, and laughed the joy he felt for the 
whole-souled French people. He reached out his hand to shake 
the chubby fist of a little child whose proud father had lifted 
her up so she could see the great man. 

Children climbed on the tonneau, and stood on every con- 
ceivable part of it where they could the better see General 
Pershing, who shook hands with as many of them as possible, 
while back of them the crowd surged like a living tide. 

The cheering was indescribable. Then the people commenced 
to throw their flags and flowers into the General's car, until he 
was half buried with these impromptu offerings. 

Finally the police made an opening and the car moved slowly 
along, inch by inch. Even as it started away up the great 
avenue, thousands ran after it, while the vdld shouts and cheers 
of the multitudes continued until all Paris seemed to be rumbling 
with a mighty noise — ^the informal, overflowing gladness of a 
people saved from the soldiers of the Beast of Berlin. 

A BEAUTIFUT^ BIRTHDAY LETTER. 

We are told that "distance lends enchantment to the view." 
It is certainly true that the full appreciation of our friends and 
loved ones often comes to us when long distances separate and 
the possibility of death taking away one or the other stares us 
in the face. 

Private James Y. Simpson, Jr., who volunteered for service 
in the U. S. army within three weeks after America entered 
the war, was in active service in France on his father's birthday, 
and took time to write to him that very day. The son was after- 
wards killed in battle in France, while fighting with the U. S. 
Marines. The letter, as follows, was published in the Kansas 
City Star: 

Mt Deae Fathbe: — I just wanted to write you a letter on your birth- 
day. I don't tnow when I will be able to mail it, but will take a chance 
anyway. 

I want to thank you, as your son. You have always been to me the 
best father a man could wish. I want to thank you for the gift of a clean, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 39 

strong and Yigorous body th.at can serve^America in her n«ed. Most of all 
I want to thank you for the long years of self-denial that made my educa- 
tion possible, for the guidance and teaching that kept me straight through 
the days of my youth, for the counsel ever freely given when asked, and 
for all the noble things in your example. 

I surely hope that you will celebrate many more birthdays, and that 
I will be home for the next one. Also may the coming years bring to you 
wider fields of service and honor, strength to perform your work, and 
in the end peace, contentment and quiet rest. 

Your son, a soldier of the United States, salutes you, with love and 
devotion. Jimmy. 

It is highly probable that such a letter could hardly have 
been written under any other circumstance, and it will no doubt 
be all the more treasured by the father, and other loved ones, 
because the one who penned such noble thoughts died in the 
defense of the principles which made such a father and such a 
son possible. 

AUTOCRACY 

THE GERMANS' HIDDEN CALF. 

Corporal A. F. Lamerton, writing of conditions in Germany 
after four years of the great war, said: 

A rather amusing incident occurred on a farm near the last camp I was 
at. The police heard that a calf had been born on this farm, so the gen- 
darme came along with his spiked helmet, sword, rifle, bayonet and revolver, 
for the purpose of commandeering the calf. The farmer said he had no 
calf. After the officer had searched everywhere for it and couldn't find it, 
the calf let out a bleat, which disclosed its hiding-place — ^trussed up in the 
chimney of the house 1 The farmer was fined by having td sow ten acres 
of rye for the Government. 

Now that kind of thing is going on every day in Germany, so you may 
guess the hatred the peasant has for the military party. And, while they 
are being starved and robbed, their sons and husbands are being killed 
at the front, and they wonder what's the use of it aU. 

COST OF KINGS WAS HIGH. 

Wilhelm II., the deposed Emperor of Germany, received a 
"salary" of $5,500,000 a year, against a salary of $75,000 a 
year for the President of the United -States. With our forty- 



40 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

eight Governors included, the total pay-roll in the United States 
does not exceed $600,000 a year, as against $11,000,000 paid 
annually to the Kaiser and the rulers of twenty-six kingdoms 
vdthin the German Empire. 

By deposing their Kaiser and the rest of the autocratic rulers, 
the Germans effected a saving of approximately $10,000,000 a 
year in salaries. 

Ludwig III., King of Bavaria, received $1,700,000 a year. 
King Frederick August III. of Saxony received more than 
$1,000,000 annually. 

BROTHERS 

MOTHER OF TWELVE SOLDIERS. 

Mrs. C. L. O'Brien, of Phoenix, Arizona, was the mother of 
twelve sons who enlisted for some branch of military service 
\mder the "Stars and Stripes." When the twelfth son enlisted 
she was sixty-eight years of age, and justly proud of the twelve 
loyal fellows bearing her name. 

ELEVEN FROM ONE FAMILY. 

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel G. Cumberland, of Ajo, Arizona, had 
the proud distinction of offering eleven sons to the IT. S. Govern- 
ment. When the war closed, four of the sons were in France and 
the others in training in camps in America. The oldest was 
twenty-six and the youngest sixteen. 

WAR DIVIDED BIG FAMILY. 

At the outbreak of the war Albert PeriUion, of Vineland, New 
Jersey, had seven brothers in the French army and five in the 
German ranks. All were born in Alsace-Lorraine. In the early 
part of the war two of the brothers met on the battlefield in 
France during a lull in activities, and had a chat together, after 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 4]_ 

which one returned to the German -and the other to the French 
ranks. The family originally consisted of twenty-four brothers 
and sisters. 

THE WOMAN WHO COUNTED FIVE. 

A man on a train in France observed a woman draped in 
mourning, weeping bitterly, and between her sobs counting, * ' One, 
two, three, four, five," over and over again. Beside her was a 
nurse. The man's heart was touched and he said: 

"Nurse, what's the trouble?" 

"Her mind has given way," was the discouraged reply. "Be- 
fore the war she had five handsome sons, and they all went into 
the French army. One by one they have been killed, and now 
she spends her time counting over her boys and weeping." 

TWIN SOLDIERS PUZZLE SERGEANT. 

Albert and Walter Grierson, of St. Louis, who looked so much 
alike that their own parents could scarcely tell them apart until 
they were ten years of age, enlisted and went to France to fight 
with the United States forces. No one in their company knew 
one from the other. 

On one occasion a new sergeant was in charge of the detach- 
ment working on a dugout. The twin boys were working from 
opposite sides. Just as Walter left the dugout with a wheel- 
barrow filled with dirt, Albert left the other end of the runway 
to come down another path with his empty. 

The sergeant didn't know there were two of them. Every 
time he looked up he saw a Grierson loading and starting off 
with a wheelbarrow. He figured that his man Grierson was doing 
twice as much work as any other one on the job, and went to the 
lieutenant to tell him about it. Then he learned the truth. 

During the war it was not an uncommon thing for one to 
come to the relief of the other. Albert, in wxitiag to a friend 
in America about it, said: 



42 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

When Walter is working and is tired, and I'm fresh, I slip out and 
relieve him, and nobody knows the difference. Then, if I get tired, he 
comes out and relieves me, and as long as one of us is where one or the 
other is supposed to be — well, there you are I 

The boys were splendid-looking fellows. A pleasing and 
quite remarkable fact in connection with their lives was that 
when at home they kept company with twin sisters, who looked 
almost as much alike as the boys — Misses Blendine and Geraldine 
Smalley. When separated, the boys and girls corresponded reg- 
ularly with each other. 

BEOTHERS CHAT AND DIE TOGETHER. 

Two brothers, named George and Joe, from a little town in 
New England, went to France with the American army, and 
fought side by side. One day both were hit by the same German 
shell and rendered unconscious. They were well known and had 
been great favorites in their company, so when they were taken 
back to the hospital they were placed on cots side by side, and 
everything possible done to save them. 

For a time both remained unconscious and lay hovering be- 
tween life and death. A motherly nurse bent over George, for 
he moved as if in pain and opened his eyes as if dazed. She 
whispered to him that his brother was on the adjoining cot, but 
still unconscious. George waited anxiously, and in his feeble 
condition could scarcely stand the strain until he could speak to 
his brother. 

After awhile Joe moved. The nurse gently eased him as he 
rubbed his eyes and looked around wonderingly. Then she whis- 
pered to him that George was on the next cot. The two, as if 
moved by one will, looked across, smiled and reached out their 
hands, which they clasped most earnestly. 

The sight of each other seemed to renew their strength, and 
they began talking, feebly and slowly. 

"Are you hurt badly, George?" the other asked. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 43 

"I think so, Joe. I feel awfully weak. Does your wound 
hurt you a lot?" 

"I don't know as it does, but I'm weak. There's another 
feeling, too, I can't describe." 

*'What is it, Joe?" 

"I don't know, George. But do you remember the things 
mother used to tell us when we were little? I keep hearing her 
telling us Sunday-school stories now, George, over and over, just 
the way she used to when we got up in her lap. ' ' 

"I wish she were here now, don't you?" said the other, wist- 
fuUy. 

"I should say so. Maybe the nurse or some one will talk to 
us the way mother used to. "We ought to do it, anyway, for if 
something happens to either of us, mother would like to know we 
were all right." 

Then each boy made the other promise that if the other should 
die, the one left would do aU in his power to get well so as to 
go back and take care of mother. 

The nurse saw that both were getting weaker, although very 
happy to know they were together. They closed their eyes as 
if to sleep. But it was for the last long sleep, with the thought 
of mother uppermost in their minds in their last conscious mo- 
ments on earth. 

When the U. S. Government sent a telegram to the little home 
back in New England, it was not that only one of the beloved 
sons was dead, but that both had passed over the silent river. 

HER TEN SONS KILLED IN WAE. 

Few women have made such a sacrifice as Mrs. Emma Watkins, 
a widow, of Quebec, Canada, for the cause of liberty. Six of 
her sons and four stepsons were all killed in the war in France. 
She herself killed two Germans. 

Mrs. Watkins was fifty-two years old when the war closed. 
When it began she and her own six sons were living on a chicken 



44 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

farm among the Laturenthian hills, and getting along well in 
every way. Two sons enlisted at once with the Canadian forces, 
and when they went to France, the mother herself recruited 
three hundred Canadian men for overseas service, then with 
her other four sons went to England and engaged in war work. 
When the two in the army were killed, the remaining four imme- 
diately enlisted, and later aU were killed. Her four stepsons had 
already joined the service, and before the war came to an end, 
they, too, had been slain in battle. 

Mrs. Watkins' husband lost his life in the Boer war, while 
fighting with the British forces. 

After the death of all of her sons, she went from England 
to France and served as an ambulance worker and driver. On 
one occasion, when the Germans raided a British hospital, Mrs. 
Watkins seized the giin of a dead soldier and shot two Germans 
dead as they were entering the hospital. 

BROTHERHOOD 

CANADIANS HONOR lEISH HEED. 

This is from the pen of Jack Monroe, a war correspondent 
who visited France: 

As a sector of one of the companies was passing through the ruined 
city of Ypres, they chanced upon the body of a dead Irish soldier lying 
in the street. He belonged to the Fifth Lancers, and his number was 
4,281. The Canadians held a brief council and decided to bury him. They 
procured a shovel and pick and dug a grave, then wrapped the body in 
a blanket. When the earth had been filled in, Piper Major Colvill si>oke 
thus to a soldier: 

"Say the Lord's Prayer, Jack." 

He complied, while the others stood with bared heads around the new- 
made mound. 

"Could the dead man's friends in Ireland have witnessed 
this rite performed by brothers from across the sea," the corre- 
spondent continued, "^it would have accomplished more toward 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 45 

cementing the bond between the peoj)les of the British Empire 
than all the propaganda of a hundred years." 

FELLOWSHIP IN SUFFERING. 

When men are suffering themselves, they know from actual 
experience what a little kindness means to one in pain. Charles 
Whitehair, a prominent Y. M. C. A. worker in the war camps 
in France, made this statement: 

The men at the front are giving their sight, their bodies, everything 
but their sonls. Those they are not giving, but finding. There are no 
words to describe the spirit of these men. After you have been with them 
you have a whole new set of ideas about human nature^ 

It isn't only for their comrades that they are willing to suffer. Over 
and over again I have seen an English Tommy, badly wounded himself, 
take the cup of hot soup or coffee our Y. M. 0. A. men were handing out 
and give it to a wounded German prisoner. Their compassion for their 
wounded enemy who is suffering is one of the finest things I have ever 
witnessed. When the war is over and the German prisoners go home and 
tell the truth about their treatment at the hands of the British, that story 
must open the eyes of their nation, for it is a wonderful story of compas- 
fiion and kindness. 

WHY THE BAVARIANS FOUGHT. 

A French soldier named Jean was on patral one night, and 
had crawled up to within ten meters of the German trench, where 
he listened to locate the sentries. There was a faint starlight. 
Suddenly a whisper came from beyond the wire, a low voice 
speaking in broken French: 

"Why do you lie so quiet, my friend? I saw you crawl up. 
I don't want to shoot you. I am a Bavarian." 

"Good evening, then," Jean whispered back in perfect Ger- 
man. 

"So," said the sentry, "you speak our language. Wait a 
moment, tUl I warn the rest of my squad, and I will show you 
the way through the wire. There are no officers about at this 
hour." 

Not many men would have taken the chance, but Jean did. 
Ten minutes later he was standing in the trench in a German 



46 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

cloak and fatigue cap (in case of passing officers), chatting 
amiably with a much-interested group of Bavarian soldiers. They 
showed him their dugouts, and arranged a whistle signal for 
future visits, before bidding him good night. 

"We are Bavarians," said their spokesman; "we like and 
admire the French. We fight only heocmse we must." 

WOULDN'T TAKE HIS TURN. 

A secretary of the T. M. C. A. saw a wounded British colonel 
sitting out in front of a dressing-station in France, one day, and 
asked why he didn't go in and have his wounds attended to. 
He replied in a matter-of-fact way: 

"Oh, it isn't my turn yet." 

Some time later the secretary came along again, and still the 
colonel sat outside. The Y. M. C. A. man knew that not only 
all the men who had been waiting had received attention, but 
that others had aiTived and been treated. Putting the question 
to the colonel once more, he received the same reply: 

*'It isn't my turn yet." 

This is characteristic of the spirit of modern civilized armies. 
The best of feeling prevails between officers and men. The 
former are like big brothers or fathers to the soldiers. 

SEPARATED YANKS JOIN ANZACS. 

Following one of the battle drives in France a considerable 
number of American infantrymen found themselves separated 
from their units. As another attack was imminent, something 
must be done at once. An Australian took in the situation, and, 
leaping upon a pile of sandbags, shouted: 

"This is a battalion of the Australian imperial forces, the 
finest on the western front. Who'll join? Walk up! Walk up! " 

This so pleased the Americans who had been lost -in the 
shuffle that many of them temporarily attached themselves to the 
Anzacs, and when their battalion made the next attack it was 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 47 

composed of Australians and Americans fighting shoulder to 
shoulder. 

NO DISTINCTION AT THE GEAVE. 

Five bodies were to be buried one morning in France, includ- 
ing a captain and three privates wearing the uniform of the Amer- 
ican soldier, and a German boy, found dead on the battlefield. 

The scene is described by William L. Stidger, of San Jose, 
California, who served for a time as Y. M. 0. A. secretary at 
the front. 

A few men stood around the little, quiet place with uncovered 
heads while the chaplain read the service. Then the bodies were 
lowered into the grave, one at a time, the salute fired, and taps 
sounded for each, until only the body of the German was left. 
As the earthly remains of this young man, once an enemy, were 
being committed to the last resting-place, the firing squad hesi- 
tated. The sergeant turned to the officer in charge and asked: 

"Sir, shall we fire a salute for the German?" 

The men waited anxiously to hear the answer. It was a tense 
moment. Finally the officer said very earnestly: 

"Boys, w© are not fighting this dead German boy. This 
lad is out of it for good. And, after all, he is just some German 
mother's son. W© are not fighting him. We are fighting the 
Prussian military caste, the German Government, but not this 
dead boy. He has died on the field of battle. Yes, sound taps 
for him." 

This was the spirit of the American soldiers everywhere they 
fought. 

CAMOUFLAGE 

FEOM "SOMEWHERE" TO "SOMEWHERE." 

During the days of strict censorship no one knew where a 
Boldier friend across the Atlantic was serving. In the letters 
received from the men in the service they were always "Some- 
4 



48 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

where," which was at least some consolation. Here is how 
Sergeant Earl Fosley, of the TJ. S. Base Hospital 43, viewed the 
situation : 

We left "Somewhere" for "Somewhere," 

And we're camping "Somewhere" for a spell; 

It's got so when one mentions "Somewhere," 
— We're almost tempted to yell. 

There's a "Somewhere" in France and in England, 
And "Somewhere" else at the front. 

It was "Somewhere" the boys were in battle, 
Just "Somewhere" bearing the brunt. 

It's "Somewhere" the censor is cutting 

"Somewhere" from the letters we write; 
It seems we've been "Somewhere" forever. 

And it has us most ready to fight. 
Geography's gone to the bow-wows, 

The faces of maps are all changed ; 
"Somewhere" to "Somewhere," via "Somewhere," 

Till our minds are completely deranged. 

CAMOUFLAGE KNOWN BY THE MEXICANS, 

Many persons believe that the art of camouflage, so much used 
in the big war, was a discovery, for practical war purposes, 
during the early part of the great conflict. The same idea has 
long been used in Old Mexico, although not designated as 
* * camouflage. ' ' 

Since the days of Diaz, Mexican soldiers have practiced con- 
cealment for military advantage. They have placed their high- 
crowned straw hats on poles stuck in sand hills in such a way 
as to make the enemy believe they were defending the hill, then 
flank their adversaries from another direction. Port-holes in the 
sides of armored railroad cars were concealed by a checker-board 
pattern being painted in black and white squares on the sides 
of the cars. 

Mexican soldiers have concealed their bodies by each carrying 
sufficient brush to permit of an undiscovered advance on the 
enemy positions through thickets. Villa originated the plan of 
driving a herd of cattle into a besieged town at night in order to 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 49 

draw the fire of the defenders and to explode any mines that 
may have been placed in the streets. 

RISKED DANGER FOR LITTLE HUMOR. 

After the battle at Thiaucourt, France, American soldiers 
rushed forward to make what they thought would be the capture 
of some high official of the German army, only to find that it 
was a private of their own regiment. The soldier was riding 
a German officer's horse, had on a German officer's helmet, and 
on his chest wore an iron cross. 

He had found these all on the battlefield, left by Germans 
in their hurry to get away from the Yanks. 

The soldiers acknowledged it was a clever trick he played on 
them, but nevertheless their hopes had been aroused to such a 
pitch at the prospect of making an important capture that they 
were keenly disappointed when these hopes were dashed to the 
ground. 

TEACHING THE ART OF CAMOUFLAGE. 

One of the most interesting features of life in training-camps 
was that of learning the art of camouflage. The remarkable 
results accomplished by such instruction were demonstrated at 
Camp Fremont, California. 

For two hours one day Colonel Singleton, chief of staff, and 
several officers from the division intelligence section, looked in 
vain through field-glasses for ten camouflaged men who were 
stationed in the open field in the hills back of the camp, all 
within a radius of four hundred yards. So complete was the 
deception that the officers failed to locate the men even after 
being told where they were placed. 

Then Lieutenant Moss, in charge of the work, blew one blast 
of a whistle, and the old tree stump on the hillside began 
fantastic dancing. Another blast from the whistle, and a comely 
rock that had ornamented the open field stood up and frantically 



50 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

waved its arms. A third blast caused the dust by the roadside, 
fifty yards away, to assume the shape of a man. Then blast 
after blast brought khaki-clad men into prominence, until the 
entire ten had disclosed their locations. 

Not only had the men been concealed, but even while the 
general and other officers were looking for them, they were busy 
drawing maps of the surrounding country, and marking down 
every move of the observers. General Helmick pronounced the 
demonstration the most remarkable he had ever witnessed. 

The camouflaged suits worn by the men were painted by 
Private Walter Wright, a cripple, who could not serve with 
the army, but was anxious to do his part in making invisible 
suits. He was given the chance, with the results as above 
noted. 

NOT WHAT THEY SEEM. 

"The land of make-believe" could very appropriately have 
been applied to portions of France where the Americans used the 
art of camouflage in really wonderful ways. 

What appeared to be huge willow-trees, common to that 
country, some with trunks two feet in diameter, were placed as 
stations for observers, operating inside of steel tubes, with pieces 
of real bark on the outside. Ten feet away the turf opened, dis- 
closing a passage with steps leading to the base of the tree. 

A huge boulder, such as one sees along country roads in 
France, was only a make-believe, in which an observer and 
machine gun could lurk. 

What seemed to be telgraph poles were often periscope poles, 
as a part of the system, in which case the pole would be hollow, 
to permit the periscope to be raised to a high observing-point, 
while a covered pit at the base accommodated the observer tak- 
ing the readings of the instrument. 

A wrecked house often served as good camouflage. For 
instance, one with the windows all gone, so the enemy could 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 51 

look straight through to the walls inside. By painting false canvas 
walls just back of the windows, the enemy still thought he was 
looking at the real walls opposite. But back of the canvas the 
observers and snipers were at work. 

Often what looked like a pile of sand was a lot of pebbles 
heaped around a hollow frame with its gauze opening for the 
observers and the flap through which the machine gun could be 
fired. 

CHARACTER 

CLEAN LIFE MEANS STEONG BODY. 

Frederic Coleman, writing from the western front in France, 
said: 

"I endeavored to find out why it was that one battalion held 
on while another gave ground, and discovered that the most 
valuable formations of all were those in which there was the 
greatest percentage of men of sterling personal character — clean, 
strong, high-minded Christian soldiers." 

This was right in line with a statement made by General 
Pershing : 

"Our men must be in good physical condition, keeping their 
morals clean, and thereby capable of meeting the trying condi- 
tions of modern warfare." 

"WHERE THE LINE WAS DRAV/N. 

A soldier made this very significant remark with reference 
to the Y. M. C. A. canteen workers in the army camps during the 
war: 

"We want to see a difference between the man behind the 
counter and the one in front of it." 

Association Men says: "No man can suck cigarettes, wear 
the Y. M. C. A. uniform, and maintain the respect and confidence 
of the men, nor would they come out to hear him speak at a 



52 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

religious service. The soldiers set a higher standard for their 
teachers than most men do for themselves. A man, to have influ- 
ence with the men, must be a little better than the best rather 
than but little better than the worst. 

"One chaplain, who thought to be popular with the soldiers 
he had to smoke cigarettes or tell a popular story, never could 
draw more than a dozen men to hear him. Another chaplain, 
who could walk with the men and walk clean and consistent, had 
the crowd when it came to a religious meeting." 

LIVE STRAIGHT TO SHOOT STRAIGHT. 

Secretary of the Navy Daniels deserves the thanks of the 
whole American nation for his efforts to make the surroundings 
of the men of the U. S. navy wholesome and helpful for living 
the clean life. In speaking of the importance of this during the 
war, he said: 

"A man must live straight to shoot straight." 

Continuing a statement in which he used the above words, he 
added : 

"For the first time in history, a Government as a Government 
has emphasized, as essential in war, physical purity and morality. 
It is our duty, knowing the temptations that assail young men, 
for all of us to throw around them such environment, give them 
such help, as will strengthen them in their firm purpose to live 
as cleanly as they fight bravely." 

Speaking of the place of the Y. M. C. A. in helping young 
men, and of the place of faith in God and Christ in the lives 
of young men, he says: 

"We have much to say about munitions and ships and mate- 
rial things, but there is another sort of armor than the armor 
on our dreadnaughts J an armor that no torpedo can pierce, that 
no shell can break; and men who have on the breastplate and are 
shod with the gospel of Christ, are invincible in battle, in peace, 
in time and eternity." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 53 

PICKING MEN BY SAMPLE. 

This incident, which occurred in the early part of 1918, is 
related by the Christian Herald: 

Six Seniors of Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, sent one 
of their number to Chicago to find ''the shortest road to 
France." The six were picked athletes, in splendid condition, 
and when their representative appeared at the recruiting-station 
of the Tank Corps, he was asked only one question: 

"Are the others like you?" 

"They are," was the reply. 

"We will take all six, then," said the officer. 

As a result, Don Starry, O. W. Sterner, Northrop Winter, 
Clement A. Sones, Cotton Etter and Karl C. Smith were enlisted 
and sent to Camp Colt for training for overseas duty. 

It speaks well for an individual and for a group to which he 
belongs when any one of them can stand as an example of the 
rest, with perfect assurance that they can make good, whether 
in civil or military life. 

SELECTING U. S. ARMY OFFICERS. 

William Atherton Du Puy, in writing of the commissioning of 
12,000 men as officers in the U. S. army, on June 1, 1918, said: 

These 12,000 were the refined gold resulting from the working of the 
ore in an entire million. Every man in the million had been given an 
opportunity to be one of the 12,000. Infinite care and intelligence had 
been brought to bear on the process of seJection. The old-time elements of 
political influence, personal friendship, preference of any sort, had been 
made impossible. Officers were selected purely on the basis of demon- 
strated ability after three months' observation and training — entirely on 
merit. 

As an instance showing how thorough was the sifting process, 
and how many different phases of a man's character were taken 
into consideration, the writer said: 

One captain at a training-camp was asked to turn in ihe rating of his 
men, and requested an extension of time, explaining that the company 
was to have a dinner downtown ou Saturday night. He wanted to ob- 



54 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

serve the men on that occasion. The matter of table manners, he said, 
■would go into his judgment of them. He later stated that a number of his 
men missed getting a commission because of their anxiety to "get their 
feet in the trough," as shown at the dinner. Deportment of this sort 
greatly handicaps an officer. 

SOLDIERS "FREEZE OUT" A SHOW. 

That the vast majority of the young men composing our 
great army during the world war were possessed of high ideals, 
was manifested in many ways. Here are practical proofs: 

When a so-called "popular" show was put on in one of the 
Y. M. C. A. buildings at Camp Merritt (by another organiza- 
tion), it was received with marks of disfavor by the crowd 
assembled, and for several days thereafter was the subject of 
severe condemnation by the soldiers all over the camp. The sec- 
retaries were approached by scores of men declaring that they 
did not stand for that sort of thing. 

At Camp Lee a negro gave a sketch that called for an apology 
by the secretary, and the men in khaki heartily applauded the 
disclaimer. 

When a vaudeville company put on a show in England for the 
American soldiers, which was anything but creditable to its pro- 
ducers, Uncle Sam's boys so froze it that the actors sneaked 
out the back way in shame. 

Our army boys were not of the "sissy" class, either. They 
were the pick of the land in physical fitness. The incidents men- 
tioned above may be taken as the dawning of a better day in the 
conduct of America's young manhood. 

THE ARMY THAT CAME BACK CLEAN. 

It is a familiar story now, but one that lovers of American 
young manhood wiU never tire of repeating — that hundreds of 
thousands of our boys who enlisted for the war resolved that 
they would not lower their standard of conduct while away, but 
would come back clean. And they did. This characteristic of 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 55 

the American army, both in the camps at home, in England and 
in France, has been the marvel of students of war conditions 
the whole world around. 

Tens of thousands of American young men, in writing home 
from France, assured the loved ones at home that they were 
"keeping straight," and expected to. This assurance was given 
to parents, brothers, sisters, wives, sweethearts and friends. 
. Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in the New York American, expresses 
the thought in rhyme — "The Song of the Soldier." The first 
verse takes up the thought, "If I come back at all, I will come 
back clean." The second and third verses follow: 

"I may lie in the mud and the trenches, 

I may reek with blood and mire, 
But I ■will control, by the God in my soul. 

The might of my man's desire. 
I will fight my foe in the open, 

But my sword shall be sharp and keen 
For the foe within who would lure me to sin. 

And I will come back cleans 

"I may not leave for my children 

Brave medals that I have worn, 
But the blood in my veins shall leave no stains 

On bride or on babes unborn. 
And the scars that my body may carry 

Shall not be from deeds obscene, 
For my will shall say to the beast, Obey I 

And I will come tack clean!" 

TWO SOUL-STIREING LETTEES. 

Secretary of the Navy Daniels made public, on October 19, 
1918, with his hearty commendation, two remarkable letters writ- 
ten by Vice-Admiral Henry B. Wilson, at that time in command 
of the U. S. naval forces in French waters. The first letter was 
to his officers, from which the following are extracts: 

It seems to be the idea of a few individuals that the uniform of an 
officer bestows upon the wearer special privileges and license. That this 
is a false idea it seems hardly necessary to state. 

The uniform of an American officer stands for honor and responsibility. 
Everything noble in our nation should be symbolized by that uniform. It 



56 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

should be seen amid -worthy associations, and in places where no disrepute 
can stain or action of its wearer discredit it. 

In a foreign land your responsibility is increased, for strangers scru- 
tinize you and judge your nation by your conduct. There is no judgment 
of our country that will be more severe than the judgment upon its ofS.- 
cers. They are supposed to be picked men, leaders; trained, educated, re- 
sponsible. In France you are making the reputation of America. 

It should not be necessary to point out to any officer the fact that he 
is an example to his men. No unit wUl ever rise in conduct higher than 
that of its offi.cers. Let your men see you always the master of yourself: 
clean, temperate and discreet in your actions and associations, avoiding 
always the very appearance of evil, by habit, bearing and language win- 
ning their confidence and respect. 

In the second letter, which was addressed to his men on the 
subject of their conduct while on liberty, Vice-Admiral Wilson 



"We are guests in the house of another people. Our home wUl be judged 
by our conduct in theirsi. 

Every great nation has stood for some definite idea: Greece for beauty, 
Rome for law, Israel for religion ; America, in the eyes of the world, stands 
pre-eminently for freedom and the ideal of manhood. We must not shake 
that opinion, but do all we can to strengthen it. 

The only history of America that many of the people of Europe wiU ever 
read is that which is recorded by your lives. Live here the proud, manly 
existence that is justly expected. 

We fight against the Hun's ill-treatment of women; let no man bo 
tempted to do, by insinuation, what we charge our enemies with doing by 
force. Let the women of France remember the men of America as those 
who would shield them against aU harm, even that which might spring from 
their defenders. 

You would fight the man who would insult your uniform; do not insult 
it yourself. Let it not be carried into places of disrepute or into any dis- 
crediting act. Let every personal desire be subordinated to the righteous 
purpose for which we came, then we will return to our homes clean and 
proud and victorious. 

THE DISCOURAGED SOLDIER. 

One of the biggest and finest things done by the U. S. Gov- 
ernment in planning to win the war was its determination that 
the American soldiers should be kept clean and as free from 
sexual diseases and sins as science, system and forethought could 
possibly guarantee. The results were considered little short of 
marvelous. At the time when we had 2,000,000 soldiers in France 
and nearly as many in camps in America, the percentage of sexual 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 57 

diseases among the men in uniform was so much smaller than in 
the cleanest American city that there was no room for comparison. 

This much by way of encouragement, as showing what could 
be done and should be done for the whole of America; for the 
health, happiness and usefulness of young men in civil life are 
just as important, and the trust of our Government for tlie 
welfare of all of its citizens is just as sacred, as for the soldiers 
in time of war. 

Here is an incident that should stir the heart of every lover 
of humanity to work earnestly for the removal of every possible 
sexual temptation: 

At a base hospital in a camp in America was a young soldier 
who was begging for the chaplain. He was sent for, and when 
he reached the cot, found the soldier in great distress of mind, 
because he was suffering from a sexual disease. He told the 
chaplain it had been arranged that his sweetheart should come 
to camp some day before he started for France, so they might 
be married. The chaplain said sympathetically: 

"You don't look like a man who would do that." 

"Chaplain," he almost cried, "this was my first offense. 
What can I do? I can't tell anybody. What shall I do?" 

The chaplain endeavored to comfort him and advised him to 
make a confidant of his father, but the soldier said he feared 
to do that. Finally the poor fellow said with bitter determina- 
tion: 

"I know what I'll do. If they can't cure me, I'll blow 
my brains out." 

Many a contemplated wedding has never taken place because 
the sexual temptations have not been removed by the lawmakers 
from the pathway of young men. 

SOLDIERS GIVE OPINION OF SINS. 

Fred B. Smith, for many years prominent in Y. M. 0. A. 
work, and during the great war devoting most of his time to it, 



58 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

in behalf of the enlisted men, said in a magazine article that the 
war brought about a great change among the millions of our 
soldier lads as to what they regarded the worst sins. 

Before the war he made it a rule, whenever opportunity- 
afforded, to ascertain what young men considered the greatest 
wrongs committed, and almost invariably found that they rated 
"immorality" first on the list. After that they put drinking, 
gambling, dishonesty, and so on. This did not surprise him, 
for he considered it strictly correct and logical. 

But when he carried his investigations into the army camps, 
both in Great Britain and in France, among our American sol- 
diers, he got a big surprise. He expected practically the same 
line-up of wrongs as he had always received. His method of 
procedure in big meetings of the fellows was about like this: 

**I want to know how you feel about what is right and what 
is wrong. Every fellow has a pretty definite idea in his own 
mind of what are the worst things a fellow can do. Just so you 
won't all talk at once, I'll ask those who want to speak to stand 
up." 

Twenty or thirty boys were instantly on their feet. Indicat- 
ing one at a time until they had all spoken, he asked all in the 
crowd who agreed that the speakers had expressed their senti- 
ments, to stand. It was practically unanimous. Then what was 
considered the second sin was taken up in the same way, then the 
third and the fourth. In every instance the vote of the crowd 
was with the ones who had spoken. 

Here is the list in the order in which Mr. Smith got it 
straight from the men themselves: First, cowardice; second, 
selfishness; third, stinginess; fourth, boastfulness. 

He saw at once that this meant a new code of morals, and, 
putting the question in another way, he handed out cards to a 
group of fifty men from two regiments and asked each to write 
down in order of importance his opinion of what were the four 
highest virtues men should have. His surprise was complete 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 59 

when it was found that every man h^d named them in this order 
— the very opposite of the four worst sins: Courage, unselfishness, 
generosity, and modesty, or humility. 

Speaking of the result of his wide range of investigations 
along this line, Mr, Smith said: 

"It seems strange to me now that, at first, I was a little 
disappointed. I had imagined they would name a sequence of 
vices led by immorality, tangible things you could get hold of 
and dramatize eloquently. But the more I thought of it the more 
it seemed that these soldiers had got down to bed-rock. They 
had passed the superficial layer. These qualities which they made 
the basis of their code are fundamental not merely in their life 
as soldiers; they are just as truly the basis for all right living, 
anywhere and everywhere. For, as I see it, immorality, drunken- 
ness and gambling can not live side by side with courage, unself- 
ishness, generosity and humility. 

''War strips the veneer from life. And just because they 
were soldiers, these young men instinctively let the surface things 
go, and found the influences underneath which mold that surface. 
I believe our churches will have to take it into consideration in 
the future." 

CHEERFULNESS 

A SONG FOR THE GERMANS. 

R. H. Mouser, using the name of * ' Bill Stinger * ' in his poetical 
writings for the Los Angeles Evening Herald, visited a number 
of the camps in America and Canada, prior to going to England 
in the autumn of 1918, entertaining the soldiers with his read- 
ings. When asked about enlisting in the army, he said it would 
be too expensive for the Government; that they would have to 
dig the trenches much wider just for him, as he weighed three 
hundred pounds. Here are some verses from one of his composi- 
tions, entitled "Fritzie Might Say": 



60 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

"Where do we go from here, Hindy, 

Where do we go from here? 
We're on our way, we dare not stay — 

They are at us flank and rear. 
You said the Yankees couldn't fight. 
But they have put us all t» flight — 
They've mussed us up till we're a sight — 

Oh, where do we go from here J 

'Where do we go from here, Hindy, 

Where do we go from here ? 
We're breathing death with every breath — 

We feel disaster near. 
Tou promised us the victory; 
That Paris soon we all should see, 
And now you order us to flee — 

Oh, where do we go from here V 

JOKING WITH THE CHAPLAIN. 

"Occasionally," said a chaplain serving in France, "the 
soldiers had a joke at my expense. And it was not always when 
things were gay, either. Sometimes when we were about to go 
over the top, for instance, they would look at me with a twinkle 
in their eyes and say: 'After you, chaplain! Clergy first, you 
know! ' 

"The brave lads! They never waited for some one else to go 
first. When the time came they went over the top with a smile, 
looking back, and waving their hands. I knew just what they 
were saying : ' Don 't worry ! We '11 get them \' " 

ONE HARDSHIP OF SOLDIERS. _ 

It requires no very vivid imagination for one to realize that 
the matter of sleep for the soldier on the fighting-line is one of 
the most serious interruptions of his former habits that he has 
to encounter. It was not uncommon for soldiers taking part in 
the great war to go several days at a time with no plan for 
sleep. If they got any at all, it was but snatches of relaxation, 
and even then under the most unfavorable circumstances it is pos- 
sible to imagine. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 61 

Frank P. Jarvis, after spending ihree years at the front in 
France with the First Canadian Mounted Eifles, still retained 
his sense of humor, and was ready to look at the bright side of 
every hardship. He began to meditate upon his past experiences 
one night while staying in an old building. Looking up at a star 
through a hole in the roof, he lighted his candle and wrote the 
following, entitled ''Where Do I Sleep Next?" which he enclosed 
in a letter to his brother, Paul Jarvis, of New York, dated 
"Somewhere in Mud, 17th of Ireland, 1918." Here it is: 

I've sdept on the prairie, shooting the duck and the goose; 

I've slept in the bush, hunting the elk and the moose. 

I've slept on steamboats with my bed on the deck, 

And I've slept in a church with a kink in my neck. 

I've slept in fields out under the stars, 

And I've slept on trains in old box cars ; 

I've slept in beds of purple and gold; 

I've slept out in Flanders in the mud and the cold. 

I've slept in dugouts with the rats and the louse 
And I've slept in France in a fairly good house. 
I've slept in barns on beds of straw; 
I've slept in sheds wi' nae bed at a'. 
I'm sleeping now on a stretcher of wire, 
And I pray my last sleep may be near a fire. 
I'm tired of the wet, the mud and the cold, 
And I won't be sorry when I sleep in the Fold." 

AN ARTIST IN THE TRENCHES. 

Capt. Charles B. Baimsfather, in charge of a British company 
of soldiers in France, was pronounced by British generals as 
alone worth a whole army corps, because of the good cheer he 
brought to the soldiers by his comic sketches. He was born a 
British subject in India, and when a youth moved to England. 
As a boy he was always sketching his adventures and observa- 
tions. 

While in command of a machine-gun company south of Ypres, 
he was anxious to do something to cheer up his men. It was a 
dreary life, living in the mud in trenches and in earth dugouts, 
so the captain began to make sketches. No matter how serious 



62 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

the subject, the pictures he drew were comic. They were sent 
down the lines and caused many a hearty laugh among the hard- 
pressed soldiers, and finally found their way to the newspapers 
and magazines, where thousands more saw them and were led to 
laughter. 

One day the captain and some of his companions were for- 
tunate enough to reach a small farmhouse half wrecked by shell 
fire. They "put up" there, and under the circumstances it 
seemed liked a palace. Once as they huddled together during a 
bombardment, a shell struck the house and knocked them all 
about. The captain made the scene the subject of a sketch 
entitled "Where Did That One Go?" 

At another time he was looking out of the attic of a ruined 
house, when a German shell came perilously near him. This gave 
him the inspiration for a -drawing of an officer with his head 
sticking out of a chimney, with a big shell crashing through the 
corner of the house, which he gave the title, "They've Evidently 
Seen Me." 

One of his pictures, representing two Tommies crouching in a 
shell hole during a terrific bombardment, was given the name, 
"If You Know a Better Hole, Go to It!" 

CHILDHOOD 

GERMAN TOYS FOR CHILDREN? 

Four thousand cases of German-made toys arrived in New 
York on October 23, 1918, valued at $250,000— a delayed ship- 
ment ordered in 1914 by seven American wholesale dealers. 

Toys! For whom? For the innocents carried down when the 
"Lusitania" sank? For those tear-eyed Belgian children who 
stretch forth little arms from which the hands were struck off 
by swords of German officers? For those French boys and girls 
with pitiful sightless eyes? For those whose little bodies rest 
in the churchyards of Italy, that died in pain from poisoned Hun 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 63 

candy? Toys made by Huns to whom innocence and childhood 
are but toys to be played with and then crushed and broken? 

Why should we befoul and taint the purity of American child- 
hood with a reminder of the fiendish treatment the Huns have 
gloried in ever since that fateful August of 1914? Can any one 
even look upon a Noah's ark "made in Germany" and put from 
his mind those hundreds of helpless innocents whose silken locks 
are twined with seaweed? Can one hold a German doU in her 
arms and forget the thousands of dead from famine who onco 
made glad a mother's arms? Can a boy find delight in the con- 
tortions of a mechanical Hun clown and forget those brave young 
men who writhed in agony when crucified on castle waUs by these 
same Huns? 

And what of the merchant who for sordid gain would barter 
these souvenirs of a loathsome nation and insult the loyalty of 
lisping lips? What could more delight the cunning Hun, what 
more quickly bring the sneering smile to cruel faces, or encour- 
age him to hope that even now we tolerate his brutality and 
welcome what he wants to seU? Even while the gaudy paint was 
yet fresh upon those trinkets, wer-e Belgian girls being dragged 
into a slavery worse than death. 

We do not lack for toys; toys by trainloads made in American 
factories, by hands which are clean; toys also by carloads made 
by our ally in Japan, where childhood is sacred, and love, not 
hate, is taught at mothers' breasts. Even were there none, far 
better our boys and girls should go without toys than find pleas- 
ure in the handiwork of a nation which made a public holiday 
to celebrate the loss of the ''Lusitania," and which in these 
latter days is steeped in the "glory" of monstrosities. — H. H. 
Windsor, in Popular Mechanics, December, 1918. 

UNITED STATES MEN ADOPT FRENCH ORPHANS. 

A French orphan boy named Jean Passard, aged six, in some 
manner found his way into an American regiment of engineers. 
5 



64 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

When the little fellow told some of the men that he had no 
relatives living, their hearts were touched. The fact was an- 
nounced to the regiment, whereupon a proposition was made that 
the engineers adopt the boy and educate him. Every man favored 
it, and so Jean was officially adopted. Then and there the hats 
were passed, and $1,000 was contributed in a few minutes. When 
the regiment was ordered to the front the boy was sent to the 
T. M. C. A. headquarters in Paris to be cared for. 

While Ms many foster-fathers were engaged in the war activi- 
ties, he was busy teaching French to American soldiers. When 
asked what he was going to do after the war, he promptly replied : 

"I am going to New York to attend public schools." 

When Jean was adopted by the engineers he was fitted out 
■with an American army uniform. 

Other regiments of our soldiers in France adopted French 
orphans, to educate and otherwise care for them. 

FRENCH CHILDREN LOVE OUR SOLDIERS. 

Long after many of the American soldiers who went to 
France have forgotten what some of the notable men and women 
said about them and their military efficiency, they will still vividly 
recall the love bestowed upon them by the children. 

Everywhere they went, where children were in evidence, the 
little ones followed them, often holding a soldier's hand as they 
walked along together. Many pictures in papers and magazines 
showed our American soldiers sitting, with a child on each knee 
and others near by. Some showed them carrying the smaller 
children, but little more than babes, perhaps. 

The children would run out to meet them when they saw 
them coming, often handing them flowers, and one of the most 
touching tributes of the childhood of France was that the boys 
and girls so faithfully decorated the graves of Uncle Sam's boys 
buried over there, placing thereon the most beautiful flowers 
they could find. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 65 

The schoolmaster in a French village asked the children of 
the school to write compositions describing the American soldiers, 
some of whom had been billeted there. Here are some extracts: 

Tlie one that I know is tall, well built. He is very kind to children. 
Whenever he meets one on the road he will stop his horses and take him 
along. He is a horse-driver. When it is raining he does not care. He 
will then whistle with all his might. 

They like sweets very much. They are clean. They wash all their 
body with cold water. They are very polite. 

The American soldier has a great love for his family. He always 
speaks of his mother, of his father, brothers and sisters. There is one 
who comes to my house often. 

I s&vr the American soldiers at their meals. It is very funny. They 
stand in a long line and laugh aloud. When their meal is over they 
start singing. 

HOW ONE SOLDIEE WAS EEWARDED. 

An American Y. M. C. A. secretary at the hut in Winchester, 
England, saw one of Uncle Sam's fine soldiers, who was standing 
near the entrance at the close of a religious service, hand two 
little English girls a shilling each with which to buy candy. The 
secretary asked the girls what they would say, adding: 
"In America little girls would say 'Thank you, six.' " 
Immediately they spoke up brightly: '* Thanks I Thanks I" 
The secretary then remarked: "In our country the little girl 
would probably give a soldier a big hug." 

The girls, without hesitating in the least, both got at the 
soldier at once and hugged him very earnestly. As they let go, 
big tears were rolling down the cheeks of the man in khaki. Per- 
haps he had a little girl of his own. At any rate, he proved he was 
a lover of those of whom Christ spoke so many inspiring words. 

COINCIDENCE 

CAPTURED HIS OWN BROTHER. 

The great war developed many remarkable coincidences. An 
American soldier, of German birth, captured his own brother* 
during a severe engagement on the western front in France. 



66 STORIES OF THE GREAT IVAR 

The brother had lived in the United States, and at once offered 
to enlist in his American brother's company, but was sent along 
to the prison camp with his comrades. 

RELATIVES SIMILAR IN SUFFERING. 

In 1870, Prof. George Siebert, fighting in the Franco-Prussian 
War, was wounded by a shell splinter in a battle near Toul, 
France. In 1918, just forty-eight years later, his son, an artil- 
leryman in the U. S. army, while fighting over the same ground, 
was similarly wounded. The elder Siebert resided at Danville, 
Illinois. 

A RED CROSS CALF MARKED. 

R. W. Garland, of Malta, Montana, was the jowner of a 
Guernsey cow that gave birth to a "Red Cross" calf, in March,"" 
1918. So impressed was the owner with the freak color marks 
that he donated the calf to the Malta chapter of the Red Cross. 
The animal was entirely white, except red ears, red front feet, 
and a wonderful red cross upon its right side, in clear, even out- 
lines, with three small star-like spots near the cross, as if to 
emphasize the emblem. 

At a Red Cross carnival held at Malta the calf was exhibited 
and an admission charged. Here many doubting Thomases were 
convinced that it was one of the most marvelous things they had 
ever seen. Later the calf was taken to other towns and exhibited, 
everywhere attracting much attention. The money received from 
admissions all went to the Red Cross work. 

WHERE TWO FAMOUS SONS SLEPT. 

Within two weeks from the date of the German surrender, 
American forces constituting a part of the army of occupation 
on the west side of the Moselle River, according to the terms of 
the armistice, had in their ranks Lieut. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, 
Jr., son of the ex-President of the United States. The room 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 67 

assigned him for a night at one of -the hotels there was the same 
that had been occupied by Major von Hindenburg, son of the 
famous German field marshal. 

This was typical of the fact that the Americans and their 
allies were everywhere "on the tracks" of the Huns. 

THIETEEN MAY HAVE A EIVAL. 

The number "IZ" did not figure in the closing of the war, but 
"11" was very conspicuous. The Germans were forced to sur- 
render on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, at 11 A. M. 
This would seem to give the Huns a chance to start a new super- 
stition around the number "11" and give "13" a rest, in 
Hunland, at least. 

SOLDIEE'S NUESE WAS HIS SISTEE. 

Harold St. Clair, of Oakland, California, a soldier recovering 
consciousness in a IT. S. base hospital in France, was surprised 
to see that the Eed Cross nurse standing over him was his sister 
Irene. Neither had known the location of the other before the 
injury which sent him to the hospital. Writing to his father of 
the coincidence, he said: "I did not need medicine when I saw 
Irene. ' ' 

Another remarkable coincidence of Oakland parties was that 
of Carl Forgey and Howard Gray, first cousins, in different 
branches of the service of Uncle Sam, who accidentally met in the 
woods in France; and this, too, at the time when there were 
about 1,600,000 of our soldiers in that country. 

IT WAS HEE SOLDIEE BEOTHEE. 

The entire telephone system in one of the suburbs of Chicago 
was tied up in the evening of November 15, 1918, by the strange 
coincidence that fell to the lot of Miss Mabel Daley, the one 
operator in charge at that time. Investigators who hastened to the 
office found her in a faint. She had become unconscious while 



68 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

wiiting down a message that came over the wires from the U. S. 
War Department, addressed to herself, which read: 

Miss Mabel Daley: — We regret to iniorm you of the death of your 
brother, Corporal Arthur Daley, killed in action. 

A PAIE OF SHOES AND DEATH. 

Stephen E. Brown, of St. Louis, serving as a Y. M. C. A. 
secretary in the war zone in France, in a letter to a friend 
describing the terrible battle of July 14-15, 1918, said: 

I had just crawled into my dugout with a chap named CoUis when 
the bombardment began. We had removed our shoes and coats, thrown a 
blanket over us and prepared to sleep. The call came, "Gas." On went 
our masks. Then came the comjnand, "Get out of these woods, every 
one." In the hurry Collis got my shoes, leaving his, a half-size too small 
for me, but I finally got into them. Collis was gone. I could locate no 
one. 

Mr. Brown, after relating a number of thrilling experiences 
and many heroic acts on the part of the soldiers that night, said 
that Collis was later found dead, having been killed by a bursting 
shell, and continued: 

The man who in his haste put on my shoes, and didn't wait for me, 
lies in a hero's grave, as he gave his life for his country that night. 
He was a fine, manly fellow. I did a lot of thinking as I stood by his 
gi-ave. You see, I should have been with him but for the mix-up in shoes. 
Do you wonder that I paused to think J 

WANTED TEN, GOT NINE. 

A California boy, fighting against the Germans in France, was 
found dead in a pit, by his comrades. There were also nme dead 
Germans there. In the boy's shirt pocket was a letter to his 
mother, written a short time before the beginning of the Argonne 
drive. In the letter he said: 

I am taking advantage of a few hours' rest and writing to you, as I 
know you are always wanting to hear from me. But don't you worry one 
bit, mother dear. If the Bodies get me, I will get ten of them while they 
are about it. 

He lacked only one of making his prediction come true. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 69 

FICTION VISUALIZED. IN REALITY. 

E. H. Sothern described, in Scribner's Magazine, two coin- 
cidences of a most unusual nature which, occurred during the 
rendering of the closet scene from ''Hamlet," at a Y. M. C. A. 
hut in France, for an audience of a thousand soldiers. 

He had reached the point where Hamlet stabs Polonius behind 
the curtain. 

"Oh, me! What hast thou done?" cries the Queen. 

"Nay, I know not. Is it the King?" demands Hamlet. 

' ' Oh, what a rash and bloody deed is this ! ' ' wails the Queen. 

As he spoke this with the vehemence required by the scene, a 
soldier thrust open the door of the hut and shouted: 

' ' Air raid I Lights out ! ' ' 

Instantly every light in the building was put out. Amid the 
dull roar of the mumbled conversations, with the audience in the 
dark, a voice rang out sharp and clear as the crack of a pistol: 
"Attention!" 

It was the colonel of the regiment who spoke. At once there 
was absolute stillness. 

"Turn on one light on the stage," he said, and it was done. 

"Mr. Sothern," said the colonel, "would you mind going on 
with your reading?" 

The entertainer proceeded. "Oh, what a rash and bloody 
deed is this," he repeated, and added: "An appropriate line, it 
would seem." 

This brought forth loud applause. He went on and was con- 
cluding his program with a recital of the "Battle Hymn of the 
Republic," and when he reached the line, "He hath sounded 
forth a trumpet that shall never call- retreat," remarkable to 
relate, a trumpet sounded loudly oixtside — the signal that the air 
raid was over! 

This, coupled with the previous coincidence, threw the crowd 
of soldiers into a storm of laughter and applause. 



70 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

A friend who was with Mr. Sothern declared he had never 
heard him play "Hamlet" so weU as on this most unusual oeea- 
sion. 

STRANGE MEETING AT BOND RALLY. 

During the fourth Liberty Loan drive a four-minute speaker 
at a New York theater decided to visualize the need of money, 
and, after mounting the stage, pointed to a sailor in the audience, 
and sang out: 

"Come here and stand by me a minute 1" 

The sailor, used to obeying orders, promptly went forward. 

"Now," continued the speaker, "who wiU buy a $1,000 Lib-" 
erty bond for this boy?" 

Before the words had scarcely left his lips a man called out, 
"I will!" 

' ' Good I ' ' said the four-minute man. ' ' Now, sailor, go and 
shake hands with the man." 

The sailor again obeyed, and as he approached the purchaser 
of the bond a look of delight and surprise spread over his fea- 
tures. As they grasped hands the sailor boy said: 

"I remember you. You're Clarence Mackay. I'm John 
Stubbs, of Reno, Nevada." 

He had seen Mr. Mackay in his home town, where he was a 
student of the University of Nevada. It developed that the sailor 
was the son of President Stubbs, of that university, the man who 
induced Clarence Mackay to endow the college with a school of 
mines. 

FATHER FINDS SON IN TRENCH. 

Lonnie Smith, aged seventeen, of Toledo, Ohio, enlisted in 
the early part of 1918, and was sent to France with the American 
troops. His father, aged fifty-eight, who was in the Spanish- 
American War, worried over the absence of his son, and, learning 
the division he was in, himself enlisted six months later, and at 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 71 

his request was placed in the same- division, hoping he could at 
least be near the son. Joy unspeakable came to him one day 
when he met his boy face to face in a front-line trench. Lonnie 
knew nothing of his father's enlistment up to that time, but 
nevertheless was greatly rejoiced to see him. 

ADDEESSED NEGROES IN THE DARK. 

Dr. Robert Bagnell, who was on a lecture tour for the Y. M. 
C. A., to the American troops in France, had the novel experience 
of addressing a regiment of colored soldiers, at night, without 
lights of any kind. He was scheduled to speak to them in the 
early evening, when he could see his audience, but the automobile 
in which he was riding was delayed. 

The negro soldiers were assembled in a woods near their 
trenches. An officer questioned the possibility of going ahead 
without lights, but the speaker decided to do so, as his time for 
the next day was all taken up with other engagements. 

He could not see his hearers clearly, for they were as dark as 
the night, but delivered his address with new zest because of the 
unusual circumstances, and was assured it was greatly appreciated. 

COMRADESHIP 

ANOTHER'S NEED SAVES TWO. 

Here is an experience related by a Y. M. C. A. man on a dark 
night in France, in making his escape from a shell-torn battle- 
field: 

"With my gas mask on, it was hard to see. I wandered 
around in the woods, finally found an opening and started into 
a field. Then I heard the cry of a wounded lad and went to him. 
He had been hit by a piece of shrapnel, but, by leaning heavily on 
me, could walk. For over two hours we stumbled through the field, 
with shells bursting as near as three feet. We would lie flat 
each time and so escaped injury. The wounded boy would say 



72 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

over and over, 'Don't leave me.' I had no intention of doing so. 
I was glad to have him with me. We were so close to death so 
many times that human companionship became quite dear. I 
can not imagine that I should have gotten through the night 
without that boy. He was my reason for heeping on. I got him 
to a first-aid station as soon as possible, and then helped to care 
for others." 

'<BURY ME WITH THE BOYS." 

Colonel Farquarhar, of the famous ''Princess Pat" regiment, 
fighting on the French front, died as he had lived — thinking of 
others. Jack Monroe, a volunteer in the regiment, and later a 
lieutenant in the Canadian army, who saw the closing of this 
noble life, writes of it as one of the most impressive scenes he 
had ever witnessed. 

While talking to another officer, outlining some of his plans, 
in the somber darkness of night, a stray Mauser bullet from the 
German trenches entered the breast of Colonel Farquarhar. He 
was carried back to the dressing-station, where everything possible 
was done for him. 

"If he would only open his eyes," whispered Captain BuUer. 

"I fear he never will again," replied Major Keenan, quietly, 
"but I wish he would speak." 

Inquiringly the men looked at the surgeon, who shook his head 
seriously. Medical sergeants, orderlies, stretcher-bearers and 
others stood about, looking longingly and lovingly at the face of 
the beloved Colonel. He had led them in life; dying, he domi- 
nated them still. 

The surgeon was bending over him, with his hand resting 
gently over the wounded man's heart, and to every whispered 
and anxious inquiry from those near, he only shook his head. He 
could give them no hope. 

Finally the Cononel moved, and a quiver of agony crossed his 
fine face. He feebly raised one arm. His eyes opened and his 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 73 

lips moved. The stillness of death- was there, while every one 
listened eagerly for some last word, that might be treasured by 
those who loved him so. The surgeon bent closer to his face, to 
get even the slightest whisper. With great effort the Colonel 
uttered these words: 

* ' Bury me — with — the — boys ; — the — boys. ' ' 

That was all. His arm dropped; his eyes closed in the long, 
last sleep. The men sobbed as they went about their several 
tasks, and even though saddened, yet were comforted much to 
know that the Colonel, who did so many thoughtful things for the 
comfort of his men when living, still thought of them as he 
closed his eyes for the last time upon the scenes of earth. 

CONFIDENCE 

COURTESY OF MEN IN UNIFORM. 

It is fine testimony to the young manhood of America that 
in the cities where it was the custom for automobiles to carry 
the sign to men in uniform, "Salute and ride," the invitation 
was almost invariably treated, when accepted, with the greatest 
possible courtesy. 

The uniform of our splendid army and navy now stands for 
real manliness. Our soldiers and sailors have dignified their 
positions by their equally fine conduct. People everywhere now 
have confidence in the man who wears the uniform of Uncle Sam. 

. HOW THE "^Y" MEN WERE TRUSTED. 

The sign of the Red Triangle on the uniform of the Y, M. 
C. A. workers among the soldiers in France was to the boys in 
khaki an emblem of honor. One such worker wrote that it was 
no uncommon thing for a "Y" man to be stopped by some man 
in the line of the marching troops and handed a wad of money, 
with the request that it be sent to So-and-So, and was from 



74 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

So-and-So. The sender never asked for a receipt, knowing the 
money would be sent in full just as requested. 

It was this feeling of confidence in the Y. M. C. A. men 
among the millions of soldiers in the camps and on the battle- 
fields that made the Association such a power for good in main- 
taining morale among the men in the service of Uncle Sam. 

THE AMERICAN UNIFORM TRUSTED. 

Many reports have come from England, France and other 
countries showing the confidence which the wearers of the Amer- 
ican soldier's uniform inspired in the people of the nations where 
our khaki-clad men rendered service during the war. It was a 
rare exception that a man disgraced the uniform of the U. S. 
army, thus showing that the confidence of our neighbors across 
the sea was well placed. 

This brings to mirid an incident related by Samuel G. Inman 
in The OutlooTc. On the occasion of the visit of the U. S. fleet 
to South America, in many of the countries where the girls are not 
allowed to receive young men except in the presence of others, 
the mothers of Montevideo told their daughters they might ap- 
proach any man wearing an American uniform and invite him 
home to dine with the family. 

This action astonished the American residents, who well knew 
the strict customs there in that regard, so some of them were 
careful to observe the outcome. In not a single instance, so far 
as could be ascertained, was the slightest advantage taken of this 
remarkable deviation from the social customs of the people there. 

CONTRAST 

THOUGHT IT A CAMP-MEETING. 

An old negro down South, who knew of camp life only what 
he remembered of the Civil War observations and experiences, went 
with a white friend to Camp Jackson one day, where thousands 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 75 

of soldiers were being trained for 4uty overseas, to fight the 
Germans, and was greatly surprised at what he saw and heard, 
- "Yer mean," said he to the friend who was explaining things 
to him, "dat dese young gem'n can't drink nothin' stronger 'n 
spring watah?" 

* ' That 's all, Uncle Eben. ' ' 

"And no frolickin' wid de gals?" 

"No; none of that goes here," 

"And no swearin* at de mules?" 

"That's against regulations, too." 

Uncle Eben was astonished almost beyond expression, but, get- 
ting his breath again, he managed to say: 

"Lor' bless yer, Massa Jeems, dis heah ain't no camp. Dis 
heah's a camp-meefm'." 

THE CONDUCT OF INVADING ARMIES. 

When the German army entered the towns and cities of Bel- 
gium and France, and later the cities of Russia, they rushed 
through the streets like packs of wolves, like torrents of water, 
or flames of fire, devastating and destroying as they went. For 
centuries the human mind will shudder at the stories of their 
ferocity and lust. 

When the American soldiers, as well as those of France and 
Great Britain, entered the towns and cities of Germany, in accor- 
dance vrith the terms of surrender, not an object of any kind was 
even disturbed, unless circumstances required it, and there waa 
no f rightfulness of any kind or degree. 

Another contrast: When the British army, under General 
AUenby, entered the city of Jerusalem, not a shot was fired. 
The Turks were driven out at the point of the bayonet. The 
soldiers went in on foot — ^not one on horseback. They walked 
modestly and reverently through the streets of the city of so many 
holy memories. Not an act of cruelty, robbery or sacrilege was 
committed. After taking possession of the city, General AUenby 



76 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

issued a proclamation in seven languages — Arabic, Hebrew, En- 
glish, French, Italian, Greek and Eussian. It read: 

Lest any of you be alarmed by reason of your experiences at the 
hands of the enemy who has retired (the Turks), I hereby inform yon 
that it is my desire that every i)erson should pursue his lawful business 
without fear of interruption. 

Furthermore, since your city is regarded -with affection by the ad- 
herents of three of the great religions of mankind, and its soil has been 
consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout peo- 
ple of these three religions for many centuries, I therefore make it 
knoT\rn to you that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine, 
traditional site, endowment, pious bequest or customary place of prayer 
of whatsoever form of the three religions, will be maintained according to 
the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faith they are sacred. 

TWO KINDS OF OFFICERS. 

The military aristocrats of Germany, who considered them- 
selves far above the common soldier, are pictured in sharp contrast 
with the American officers, in the following poem by Jessie Pryse 
Arthur : 

"They marched him along with the common herd. 

This arrogant, popinjay Prussian bird, 

Demanding that he be at once transferred. 

And raving and snorting with every word. 

'You drive me with cattle,' the Von averred; 

'Ton house me with swine and with curs,' he slurred. 
He referred to the men of his own company — 
They say that's the way of autocracy. 

"They carried him in from the thickest fight, 
A sore-wounded officer, wan and white. 
With pain-clinched fingers and lips drawn tight, 
Who cared not one whit for his own sad plight, 
But whispered, 'Say, doctor, I'll do to-night; 
Attend to the others first — I'm all right; 

What's good for my boys is enough for me.' 
They say that's the way of democracy." 

PRESIDENT WILSON AND THE KAISER. 

Sir Hall Caine, the famous English novelist and playwright, 
contrasted the great difference in consequences of the ideals of 
President WUson and the Kaiser, at the time of the President's 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 77 

visit to Europe in the winter of 1918-19, to be present at the 
world peace conference. 

The writer first called attention to the wonderful and almost 
unprecedented enthusiasm with which the American chief 
executive was everywhere greeted, not only in the cities of Lon- 
don, Paris and Eome, but in the smaller • places wherever the 
people had an opportunity to see him. But few men in the 
history of the world were ever before the central figures in the 
eyes of so many people of the world. It was to President "Wil- 
son they lovingly looked as the guiding personality in bringing 
about justice for all peoples, regardless of their weakness or their 
strength. 

On the other hand, at the other extreme of the estimate of 
the great world-spirit of humanity. Hall Caine pictured the Kaiser, 
in a published article on December 29, 1918: 

Alone lie sits, or almost alone, in a house in Holland, a -world 
outcast and a world criminal, guarded from pursuing assassins by two or 
three soldiers at a gate, suffering physical agonies from the fresh out- 
break of tumorous ear trouble which has tormented half his days, nervous, 
fretful and depressed, cut off from his people among whom he played for 
thirty years the dotible part of divinity and tyrant, buried in the deep 
dishonor of solitude that is only penetrated by piercing cries for his pun- 
ishment, trembling for his o^Yn miserable life after driving millions of his 
subjects to death on foreign battlefields, writing with feverish hand the 
heroic story of his defense, falling to his knees in alternate outbursts of 
prayer and expostulation, and on his face in the convulsions of epileptic 
fits. Hardly has history another picture so pitiful and mean. Compared 
with this downfall. Napoleon had a gloomy grandeur as of a demon actor 
who quitted the world's stage with his forehead "bloody and unbowed," and 
the thunder clouds he had brewed about him. 

Hall Caine closes his article with these words: 

And if the contrasted spectacles of President "Wilson's gladsome wel- 
come and the Kaiser's abject state have any message for the world in 
this high hour, it is surely this, that when war is waged for its own sake 
or for the sake of its power and its glory, it degrades man to the condi- 
tion and often dooms him to the fate of the brute, while the only solem- 
nizing and sanctifying effects of war are seen in those who have waged 
war to destroy war, and the early virtue in being strong is to be able to 
defend the weak. 



78 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 



CO-OPERATION 

NATIVES OF IKDIA GOOD FIGHTERS. 

The triumphs of General Allenby at the head of the British 
army in Mesopotamia were due very largely to the loyal response 
of India to Great Britain's call. During the war India con- 
tributed more than 1,115,000 men to the British army, and nearly 
half a billion dollars in money. In addition to this, she sent 
more than 1,500 miles of railroad track to the seat of war, 
besides 250 engines and 4,500 cars. 

PREFERRED YANKS TO GERMAN GOD. 

In a small prison camp in the rear of the battle-line in 
France, a captured German called the attention of his Australian 
guard, with a show of pride, to the inscription on his belt-buckle, 
"Gott Mit Uns" (God with us), and repeated the words boast- 
fully. The guard eyed him with disgust as he replied: 

"Yes, but the YanTcs are with us." 

He meant no irreverence by his remark, either, for long before 
the war closed no one realized better than the soldiers at the 
front that the Germans' god was not the God of mercy, love 
and justice, but of cruelty, greed and lust. 

AMERICANS ONE IN NAME AND SPIRIT. 

About a year and a half after America had engaged in the 
war, and sufficient time had elapsed to prove the Americans were 
capable of doing big things in the fighting in France, one of our 
great dailies said: 

It is fortunate tliat in this war there has been no attempt to form 
distinctly foreign-born regiments or brigades, as was done in the Civil "War. 
Whether this error was avoided in this conflict by accident or design is 
not known with certainty. At any rate, it was avoided, and when the. war 
is over, all the historic commands of the United States soldiers will be sim- 
ply commands of American soldiers — not of any hyphenated branch, how 
ever honorable the hyphen. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 79 

WHEN SECTARIANISM .DISAPPEARED. 

During the dark days of the battle of the Marne, a Jewish 
rabbi and a Catholic priest were crawling about the battlefield, 
giving succor and consolation to the wounded and dying, for 
the fighting was fierce, and the casualties severe, with men falling 
on every hand. 

While the priest, lying in the mud beside a fallen soldier, 
was administering the last rites of his church, a shell exploded 
close by and killed him. The Jewish rabbi, without an instant's 
hesitation, crawled forward and picked up the crucifix, placed 
it in the hand of the priest, and, holding that lifeless hand 
in his own, pressed the symbol of Christ's sacrifice to the lips 
of the dying soldier. 

LOOKED LIKE A RICH MAN'S WAR. 

When the great war began and it looked more and more as 
though the United States must be drawn into the awful struggle, 
there were many in America, called ''pacifists," who protested 
against this country having anything to do with it. Among 
other things, they declared that greed was back of every effort 
to make the United States a party to it, and that "this is a 
rich man's war." 

After the U. S. Government passed the law requiring that all 
who had incomes of more than $2,000,000 must pay a surtax 
of 63 per cent., the amount collected in this way made it look 
as though it had at last become a rich man's war, in one way. 

The Presiyterian Advance, in September, 1918, gave the 
names of twenty-six men of wealth whose combined income was 
nearly $170,000,000, and of this amount they paid the U. S. 
Government a total of over $107,000,000. The surtax income 
alone was $38,400,000 for J. D. Rockefeller, $6,400,000 for 
Andrew Carnegie, $3,200,000 for Henry Ford, $2,240,000 for 
Charles M. Schwab, and $1,920,000 for Mrs. Russell Sage. 
6 



80 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

WAE LIKE WILD WEST SHOW. 

Sergt. Albert E. Eobinson, of Kansas, in a letter to home 
folks, referred to a characteristic of the big Vv-ar which was often 
commented upon by writers: 

All the nations of the world are around us — the Highland Kilties, the 
jaunty Royal Field artillery, the stolid British, the Australians (fighting 
devils), the South African corps of negroes, the swarthy little Algerians, 
the "gentlemen" known as "Fritz," the Chinese coolies (who do the heavy 
work behind the lines), and the Yankee, with his pardonable swagger, his 
cap over his ear, his wrapped leggings, his supreme faith in his ability to 
whip any one. In fact, his readiness to demonstrate that ability is con- 
stantly getting him into international complications. 

LEAVING HOME FOE CAMP LIFE. 

Those were stirring days in America when our boys were 
leaving home by the hundreds'of thousands, filling troop-trains 
by the score, to go to some camp for training, in order to help 
win the big war. 

At the stations of our larger cities they afforded a veritable 
cross-section of American democracy. Eepresenting every tribe 
and tongue, every color and creed, every variety of tempera- 
ment, and every stage of culture, they carried no suggestion of 
the disciplined and unified army they were soon to become. 

They were given a royal send-off, of course — perhaps with a 
big parade preceding the march to the station, brass bands 
playing and flags flying. It must be admitted that many of 
them did not appear at their best. Clothes do not make the 
man, but they do have an important part in creating first im- 
pressions. Most of the boys leaving home wore clothes they 
expected to dispose of soon after — the worn-out and cast-off 
garments of the days gone by. Here was one in a Palm Beach 
suit to be greeted by a colored rookie with: "Hey, you! Dis 
ain' no golf game!" 

Some of the more facetious removed the crown of their 
straw hat and trimmed the rim to a visor. Some wore flowers 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 8| 

gorgeously arranged. And so it w^nt. It was American young 
manhood, democracy pure and simple, going with, characteristic 
optimism to the grim task of war. 

HE HAD DONE HIS PART. 

During one of the hard-fought battles a young soldier, who 
was mortally wounded and becoming very weak, heard his com- 
rades cheering. 

"What is that for?" he feebly asked of one who was bend- 
ing over him. 

"They have put the flag over," was the proud reply 

With a look of contentment the wounded boy expressed his 
own great pleasure, and said almost with his last breath: 

"I helped to put it there." 

He who knows he has had a part in making the world better 
can close his eyes on life's battlefield, wherever it may be, like 
this dying soldier, with a clear conscience. 

THE INTERNATIONAL MIND. 

It is almost here. It has been coming all through the ages, 
up through the individual, the family, the tribe, the community 
and the nation. At the nation it halted a long time; but the 
movement is now on. The internation is to be a product of the 
world war. President Wilson is its prophet when he says: 

"My dream is that, as the years go on, America will come 
into the full light of the day when all shall know that she puts 
human rights above all other rights, and that her flag is the flag, 
not only of America, but of humanity." 

You will search the pages of history in vain to find such a 
sentiment expressed by any great ruler or leader of the past. 
We are living in the dawn of a great day; the day when the 
"kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of the Lord, 
and of his Christ," because we are recognizing our common 
brotherhood under his Fatherhood. — Christian Endeavor World. 



82 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

THE SOLID SOUTH FOR THE WAR. 

The spirit of the "Solid South" in the great war was typified 
by this incident; related in the Christian Endeavor World: 

A Georgia mother introduced her son to a stranger and then 
commenced weeping. As they had been discussing the war, the 
stranger supposed the son was to leave soon to don the uniform 
of Uncle Sam, and said blunderingly: 

"Oh, madam, don't cry. He may not have to go. The war 
may soon be over." 

To the man's dismay, she spoke up sharply, as if insiilted: 

"I'm not crying because he has to go; I'm crying because 
the medical examiners of the army rejected him to-day for the 
third and last time." 

The stranger, having blundered once, kept quiet, but in his 
heart he was proud of the mother and of her patriotic spirit. 

AMERICA'S PROMISE MORE THAN KEPT. 

On December 7, 1918, nearly one month after the armistice 
terms had been signed, practically ending the war. Premier 
Lloyd George, of Great Britain, in a speech at Leeds, England, 
laid bare the critical situation of the Allies as it existed in 
March of the same year. He said: 

"1 shall never forget that morning (March 21) when I sent 
a cable to President Wilson telling him what the facts were 
and how it was essential that we should get American help at 
the speediest possible rate, inviting him to send 120,000 infantry 
and machine-gunners per month to Europe; if he did that, we 
should do our best to carry them. The following day came 
this cablegram from President WUson: 

" 'Send your ships and we will send the 120,000 men.' " 

This promise was more than kept. While, in December, 1917, 
the United States had less than 150,000 troops overseas, we had, 
when the armistice was signed, about 2,000,000 men in France, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 83 

besides 200,000 in other countries, wearing the uniform of Uncle 
Sam. The number sent over in May, 1918, was 245,000; in June, 
278,000; in July, 307,000; in August, 289,000, and in September, 
257,000. 

President Wilson, in his address to Congress on December 2, 
1918, referring to this wonderful accomplishment, said: 

"No such movement of troops ever took place before, across 
three thousand miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment 
and supplies, and carried safely through extraordinary dangers 
of attack — dangers which were alike strange and infinitely dif- 
ficult to guard against. In all this movement, only 758 men were 
lost by enemy attacks — 630 of whom were upon a single English 
transport, which was sunk near the Orkney Islands." 

EELIGIOUS LESSON FROM THE ALLIES. 

A minister of national reputation, famous as a preacher, lec- 
turer and author, is quoted as follows in the Christian Herald: 

Out great army of men at the front, who faced death hourly, have 
sifted religion down to the vital truths, and they will want all the tangles 
cut out so that they may get at the eternal verities. It would be a pre- 
posterous anomaly to suppose that the old fence lines which divide Ameri- 
can Protestantism into something like a hundred and fifty different rival 
«ects could stand. They will ultimately disappear. 

The denominations might take a lesson from the Allies in the war. 
While each of our armies fought in its own way, they made but little prog- 
ress. But when all were placed under a single leader, and marched and 
fought in obedience to the generalissimo's command, the entire situation 
Was changed. The forces of tjo-anny and oppression were flung back in 
confusion and disaster, and the united armies pressed on from victory to 
victory. 

So will it be in our churches. When they fight unitedly together, 
under a single great Commander, they will be irresistible. 

MAESHAL FOCH'S APPOINTMENT. 

During the progress of the war there was some discussion 
as to who was responsible for the appointment of Foch as 
generalissimo of the allied armies. On October 2, 1918, Marshal 
Foch was sixty-seven years of age, and upon receipt of a tele- 



84 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

gram of congratulation from David Lloyd George, British 
premier, he replied as follows, which seems to leave no doubt 
on the subject: 

"I am greatly touched by your congratulations, and thank 
you sincerely. I do not forget that it is to your assistance 
that I owe the position which I occupy to-day. The sure sign 
of the glorious days awaiting our armies is to be found in the 
perfect unity which exists now between all the allied forces." 

<'AVENIJE OF THE ALLIES." 

This was the name given to a portion of the famous Fifth 
Avenue, New York City, during the fourth Liberty Loan drive 
in that city, the decorations for which are said to have eclipsed, 
in variety, beauty and quantity, anything of the kind ever wit- 
nessed on that stately and majestic thoroughfare of so many 
wonderful scenes and processions. 

The portion of the avenue thus designated extended from 
Madison Square to Fifty-ninth street — that is, from the famous 
"Flatiron Building" to the lower end of Central Park, 

The outstanding big idea was that each of America's twenty- 
odd allies in the great war was represented by one block of the 
way. All the flags, window displays and other decorations used 
for that one particular block represented that one country. At 
every street-crossing in the district a huge new flag, suspended 
from a vdre across the avenue, met the view of the spectator. 
Then would come a seemingly countless number of smaller flags 
of that nation, and other forms of spectacular effect, charac- 
teristic of the nation represented. 

Let one picture mentally, if he can, the wonderful scene — 
France, Great Britain, Belgium, Japan, China, Brazil, Cuba, 
Italy and the other allies — each with a block thus decorated. 

One writer, in describing the scene, said: 

No street arranged for the triumphant progress of an emperor was 
ever more bedecked. Wo spectacle of color was ever better planned to 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 85 

make instantaneous appeal to the sense of beauty and patriotism. And 
at night, when the avenue was lit up by~its myriads of yellow lights, one 
felt himself in fairyland. 

Not until I passed under this long line of changing standards did I 
fully realize with what extraordinary unanimity and determination the 
progressive nations of the world had taken up the challenge of the Hun. 

BEAUTIFUL SIMPLICITY OF THE PEESIDENT. 

Entirely aside from, his ability in handling the great affairs of 
the nation, President Wilson has endeared himself for aU time 
to come to the great mass of Americans because of his belief in 
the simple home life and influence of our citizens. This could 
be shown in no better way than his letters to people in the most 
ordinary walks of life. 

He proved his admiration for the American soldier in many 
ways during the war. His eye was easily caught by a newspaper 
story of some family, or individual, that had made a special 
sacrifice for the nation. Here is a typical letter which he wrote 
when he read that six sons of a man in Omaha, Nebraska, had 
enlisted to fight, for the American flag: 

Mt Dear Mb. McShane: — May I not turn away from the duties of 
the day for a moment to express my admiration for the action of your 
six sons in enlisting in the service of the country? They are making, 
and through them you are making, a very noble contribution to the fine 
story of patriotism and loyalty which has always run through the pages 
of American history. Cordially and sincerely yours, 

WooDEOw Wilson. 

Another letter well worthy of remembrance was in reply to 
one from Mrs. Louis Meyer, of Wheeling, West Virginia, in 
which she wrote the President that she had two sons in the 
service, closing her letter with these words: 

If you have time, Mr. Wilson, and want to see some healthy men, go 
to Company D, Sixth Regiment, just arrived in Washington, D. C, from 
Columbus, O., and ask for Fred and Louis Meyer, Ambulance Corps. 

The suggestion that a President of the United States ''look 
up" two boys in a passing regiment and admire their stalwart 
fighting abUity may appeal to gome people as amusing. It did 



86 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

not commend itself in that light to President WUson. Here is 
his -reply : 

Mt Dear Mrs. Meyer: — ^Tour letter of Jtme 13 has warmed my 
heart. Tour feeling about your sons 'is the ^feeling which I should think 
every mother in whom the true spirit o'f motherhood and of Americanism 
dwells would have, and I like to believe that it is true that the country 
is full of mothers of the same heroic and self-sacrificing sort. _ It quickens 
my pulse and strengthens my belief in the splendid capacity of this country 
to meet every crisis of this sort, to receive such a message as you have 
been gracicus and kind enough to send me, and I shaU treasure it in my 
heart as a typical expression of devoted American motherhood. 

Cordially and sincerely yours, WOODRO'W "WrLSON. 

FRENCH GIRL'S ESTIMATE OF DISTANCE. 

When Dr. John Finley was in Europe, during the war, a 
fourteen-year-old French girl handed him this contribution, which 
expresses the sentiment of friendship between America and 
France in an unusual and beautiful manner: 

It was only a little river, almost a brook. It was called the Tser. One 
could talk from one side to the other without raising the voice, and the 
birds could fly over it with one sweep of their wings. And on the two 
banks there were millions of men, the one turned toward the other, eye to 
eye. But the distance which separated them was greater than the stars in 
the sky ; it was the distance which separates ri^ht from Injustice. 

The ocean is so vast that the sea-guUs do not dara cross it. During 
seven days and seven nights the great steamships of America going at 
full speed drive through the deep waters before the lighthouses of France 
come into view ; but from one side to the. other, hearts are' touching. 

"THE BLOOD OF ALL THE WORLD." 

Following the surrender of the Germans to the allied forces. 
Company D, 166th Infantry, Ohio regiment of the Rainbow 
Division, in France, was chosen to act as guard of honor for 
the French troops when they marched into the city of Sedan. 
A French colonel gave a dinner in honor of the American officers 
in the evening, in a dining-room lighted only by candles. 

It was a most dramatic scene. Every man present was fresh 
from the battlefield. At the close of the dinner Lieutenant 
Allison, graduate of the University of Missouri, arose to speak 
on behalf of the Americans. He paid homage to France and 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 87 

her soldiers, and taking from his. pocket a little silk flag wMch 
his wife had sent him, presented it to the colonel. The French 
officer sat silent for a moment, deeply moved. Then, holding 
the colors aloft in his clenched hand, he cried out: 

"The blood of all the world!" 

Up sprang the assemblage, while from hundreds of throats 
came the shout: "Vive I'Amerique!" 

This scene, as reported by Damon Eunyon, was enacted within 
four hundred yards of the spot where, forty-eight years before. 
Napoleon III. had signed his abject surrender. 

THE DEMOCEACY OF ADMIEAL SIMS. 

Ealph D. Paine, in writing of Vice-Admiral Sims, who did 
such wonderful work in charge of our IT. S. fleet in the Atlantic 
during the strenuous days when German sulwnarines were endeav- 
oring to sink everything that crossed the ocean, praised his 
democracy, saying: 

"Among -themselves the young officers of the destroyer fleet 
affectionately referred to their Vice-Admiral as 'Bill' Sims, and 
you may be sure he would not havei felt offended had he over- 
heard it. He realized how precious an asset to the service were 
the eager allegiance and chivalrous self-sacrifice of youthful 
ideals. If they presumed to know it all, he smiled and listened 
with wise tolerance, or f cfund sucL a text as this to fit the sermon : 

"Two rosy ensigns were sitting in the deck-house of the old 
receiving-ship 'Colorado,' when they noticed that every time the 
quartermaster entered he removed his cap. He was old enough 
to" be their grandfather, and they told him he need not remove 
his cap — that the deck-house was the same as if he were out of 
doors. He replied most respectfully: 

" 'You young gentlemen knows so much more as what I do 
that I just feels like takin' off me hat.' 

"The spirit of the American navy to-day is truthfully 
reflected in a group of admonitions which Admiral Sims addressed 



88 STORIES OF THE GREAT IV AR 

to an audience of officers before the summons came to active 
service in the war zone. 

"Among the precepts given were the following: 

"Be sure you know the subject of your instructions before 
you give them. Knowledge of your job always commands respect 
from those associated with you. 

"Encourage your men to come to you for information, and 
take pains to look it up and supply it. 

"Always be considerate of inexperience. When reproof will 
correct a small fault, it is almost always a mistake to inflict 
punishment. 

"Be absolutely just. All kinds of men respond to the square 
deal. 

"Never hurt a man's self-respect by humiliating him in the 
presence o-f others. You will thereby impair his usefulness. A 
man who is called down in public will surely resent it. 

"Do. noit let the state of your liver influence your attitude 
toward your men." 

COURAGE 

HAEDSHIPS NOT ENDURED, BUT DEEIDED. 

A business man serving as a Y. M. C. A. secretary in France 
was amazed at the courage of the American soldiers. Among 
other things he wrote, in the spring of 1918: 

These boys from some of the finest homes in. America, where they have 
had every comfort and convenience, out her.e in mud huts in the midst of 
the severest cold, wet, mud and tense living, have never a word of com- 
plaint or fauJtfinding. All this pagt winter I have marveled at them, and 
often thought of Hankin's tribute to such as they have proved to be: 

"They did not endure hardship, they derided it!" 

ANXIOUS TO SERVE COUNTRY. 

While there were many slackers in America as a whole, the 
proportion was small indeed compared to the men who were really 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 89 

anxious to help win the war. This _is indicated by the fact that 
in St. Louis alone one thousand young men underwent surgical 
operations for the overcoming of physical disqualifications for 
military service. Some of the operations were very serious. 
These young men might have claimed physical exemption, but 
instead they suffered pain, and ran the risk of death, in order 
to make themselves physically fit. Such incidents as these show 
the real spirit of America's young manhood. 

WHEN THE GERMANS LOOKED BIG. 

Some of the bravest of our American boys, in going into 
battle for the first time, admitted being filled with mixed emo- 
tions of fear, excitement and doubt, at the same time anxious 
to go ahead. 

Private E. G. Desimore, of the Fourth U. S. Engineers, in a 
letter to his mother, Berkeley, California, wrote: 

In the midst of all these emotions I saw my first German. He was 
charging at me with his bayonet leveled and his mouth wide open. He 
looked to me to be about ten feet tall, and I felt that the end of the 
world was coming. But somehow or other my finger pressed the trigger 
and the Boche fell. Before falling he threw up his arms, and his face as- 
sumed the most surprised expression that I've ever seen on a human being. 
But of the two I think I was the most surprised. 

He is the only one of the many I have met and licked that I can re- 
member any detail of. The rest is a dream. 

THE COURAGE OF FRENCH WOMEN. 

When the terrible war was raging the most fiercely, the 
French women never for a moment lost their courage. Here is 
just one characteristic incident: 

When the mother of General Castenau was at the altar rail 
of a church one day, about to receive communion, the heart of 
the officiating priest, who knew her well, went out to her in 
sympathy, for he had just heard of the death of one of her 
sons. He knew that the tidings had not yet reached her, and in 
his anxiety in the matter his hand trembled and his voice broke 



90 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

as he approached .her to offer the sacrament. Immediately she 
seemed to know the cause of it, and looking up to him she whis- 
pered eagerly: 

"Which one is it?'* 

He told her the name of the son that had been killed. With- 
out another word she received the communion and walked back 
to her seat to pray. That brave mother had given seven sons 
to the army of France. Up to that time three of them had 
been killed and one was a prisoner in Germany. And yet her 
courage and her faith remained firm and unshaken. 

It was this wonderful spirit of the French women that enabled 
the men of France to unfalteringly face any danger or hardship 
that might befall them. 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF CRIPPLES. 

Three American soldiers in a hospital in France who had 
suffered severely were overheard by a doctor discussing their 
cases. Said one: 

"I didn't need that left leg, anyway. I'm a lawyer, and 
what good's two legs in a law office? If I lost any, I wanted 
it to be my left one. I got my wish." 

Another followed by saying: "Well, my right's gone, but if 
I had it I'd just have to wash it all my life, so I'm saved a 
lot of work." 

By this time the third one had become enthusiastic, and with 
a broad grin outdid the others by exclaiming : * ' Say, I 've got 
it all over you fellows ! I lost both legs ! ' ' 

A LIEUTENANT'S COURAGE. 

We often think of courage as facing physical danger. The 
other kind is just as great and more important. A lieutenant 
in the U. S. army, who had been very profane, was stationed 
at one of the camps where his men were in training for service 
in France, and decided to "turn over a new leaf." He had 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS _9j^ 

resolved to live the Christian life. Standing before his men, 
after coming to the decision, he had the courage to say: 

"Fellows, I have sworn at you many times and used many 
oaths, and I know that it has hurt many of you Christian boys; 
but from this time on, God helping me, I shall never use another 
oath." 

His two hundred men cheered again and again, and because 
of his brave stand over two hundred of the number signed a 
pledge to read the New Testament. From that moment forward 
his influence for good went out in ever-widening circles among 
those with whom he came in contact. 

"ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE." 

Grover C. Carlsen, with a U. S. engineer regiment, serving in 
France (son of Capt. N. P. Carlsen, superintendent of the Rolph 
shipyards at Eureka, California), wrote of some of his observa- 
tions and experiences after one of the severe campaigns: 

Tou never saw such grit in your life as \7&s displayed by our boys 
when wounded. One fellow in our company was hit in the foot and lost 
it. When he passed us he called out: "Well, boys, one foot A. W. L." 
r Absent without leave ] . 

Carlsen himself spent one afternoon making wooden crosses, 
under heavy shell-fire, for American soldiers who will never see 
their homes again. 

FORCED GERMANS TO CARRY HIM. 

The New York Times published a remarkable story of a 
nineteen-year-old American soldier, a sergeant, taking part in the 
severe fighting around Chateau- Thierry. His name could not be 
given at the time, as the censorship rules required that the 
nearest of kin of wounded must be the first notified. 

He was leading seven men, every one with their rifles busy 
firing at Germans. One by one his men fell, until the sergeant 
was left alone. Still shooting at every Hun he could see, he 



92 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

finally compelled five of the enemy to throw down their rifiiea 
and surrender. As he was advancing to take charge of them, 
a sniper shot him through the right arm. He had to drop his 
rifle, but used his automatic with his left hand and kept going. 
The sniper fired again and shot him in the left leg. Even that 
did not halt him. He forced the disarmed Germans to make an 
improvised litter for him. 

Then with his automatic pressed against the back of one 
of the Huns, the plucky sergeant compelled them to carry 
Mm back to his post command. They obeyed without wavering. 
Down through woods swept by machine-gun fire, across a field, 
his captured litter-bearers took him, and then he was taken in 
an ambulance to the rear. 

STEENGTH OF MOTHER CHARACTER. 

A woman in Brooklyn was the mother of a big, strapping 
son who endeavored to get discharged from the army, after he 
had enlisted, saying he believed he was developing flat feet. To 
this she replied: 

"I think you are developing a yellow streak. No son of mine 
will ever have feet flat enough to come back to me if he runs 
away from his duty to his country." 

Another Brooklyn woman promptly telephoned the police and 
had her son arrested as a deserter, because he ran away from 
camp and came home. 

Both incidents show the true mettle of American motherhood. 
They would grieve in deep sorrow over the loss of a son, fallen 
in defense of the right, yet they could bear this better than to 
see their offspring turn coward when duty called to face danger. 

MIXTURE OF FIRE AND WATER. 

Soon after the capture of St. Quentin from the Germans, in 
the big forward drive of 1918, the Forty-sixth British Division 
came near a canal, the opposite bank of which was lined with 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 93 

German machine guns. Some of the British wore life-belts 
removed for the occasion from the "leave" boats plying between 
England and France, while others plunged boldly in and swam 
a^cross through a perfect hail of bullets. Only one man was 
drowned in the entire exploit. 

Beaching the other side, they fought their way up the slip- 
pery canal bank, went over the enemy parapets, and killed several 
hundred Germans in every section. Others farther back saw 
their reckless daring and retreated on a run. In a single day 
this division took 4,200 prisoners, seventy cannon, more than 
1,000 machine guns and great quantities of war material. 

ALABAMAN WHO WOULDN'T EUN. 

An American soldier, writing from France to a friend in the 
United States, gives an incident showing how the Americans 
refused to cower in the face of danger. 

As the Yankee troops were sweeping across the fields of 
Champagne, a Hun aviator swooped low, firing his machine gun 
point-blank at our boys in the trenches. A soldier from Alabama, 
looking up, and seizing his gun, yelled out, "Oh, no, you 
don't!" and returned the fire. His aim was so true that the foe 
dropped down instantly. The young Alabaman leaped from his 
trench, and, rushing upon the aviator, crushed his skull with 
the butt end of his pistol. Again it was American valor against 
"kultur" tactics. 

SURPEISE FOR HOSPITAL SURGEONS. 

Notwithstanding their wounds, it seemed to be characteristic 
of American soldiers taken to the hospitals in Prance to make 
the very best of every situation, no matter how serious. 

One surgeon relates an instance coming under his observa- 
tion. A long line of stretcher cases had been brought into the 
reception ward, and he passed along making quick preliminary 
examinations, when he came to one with the blanket covering the 



94 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

entire body. Not a movement was visible, nor a sound eoming 
from beneath it. The doctor supposed here was one who had 
passed beyond all human aid, so reverently raised the blanket. 
The soldier, although suffering from severe wounds, gave the 
blanket a quick jerk, and, with a mischievous smile, called out: 
<'Boo!" 

Another was asked by a nurse: "Do you suffer much pain?" 
His reply was: ''No; we Marines don't suffer, you know." 

And so it went, day after day, in every one of the large 
hospitals — a series of continuous surprises for the doctors and 
nurses as they came in contact with the brave American boys. 

THE ZERO OF A SOLDIER'S COURAGE. 

Rev. Frank H. Fox gives a picture of scenes in the trenches 
during a short time preceding "going over the top" for the first 
time, as related by Captain Horton. 

It lacked thirty minutes to the time set for the ordeal. The 
captain himself admitted he was uneasy, although anxious for the 
advance. Letters hastily written by the dim lights in the dug- 
outs were being handed to the chaplain to be mailed in case 
of — death; for there was always that possibility, and the boys 
realized it. 

The moon was shining, but it looked pale and ghastly. The 
faces of the men showed the nervous strain of waiting. 

"I've been thinking a lot about home since we got that order 
to go over the top," said one soldier to the captain. 

"Yes," replied the leader of the men in khaki, "this is 
going to be a new experience to us all." 

Another soldier declared he had heard an owl hoot three 
times. He was disturbed by it and said to the captain: 

"That owl seemed to say, 'You and you and you.' That 
means Corporal Stanley and you and me, Captain." 

"Nonsense, Billy, you're too good a soldier to permit back- 
woods superstition to disturb you." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 95 

Captain Horton, shaken by this conversation and the strange- 
ness of all the surroundings more than he wished to admit to 
the men under him, returned to his dugout to think. Then he 
recalled a sermon he had heard on "The Great Companion," the 
central thought of it being that God is always with us; that He 
will never forsake us if we do not forget and forsake Him. 

This brought to him strength and courage to calmly face the 
coming experience. He said aloud, '^I'U go and tell the boys." 

In passing along the line from one to another, bringing calm- 
ness and courage to each as he spoke of the divine protection 
and presence, he came to Sergeant Putnam, who said to him 
with quivering voice: 

"Captain, I'm a miserable coward. That's the truth. I've 
been shaking here like a cur ever since we got the order to go 
over the top. Shoot me before I run away. I wish they'd give 
us whisky; maybe that would brace me up." 

"No, Jim," said the captain, "that is artificial courage. 
You now need the clearest brain you ever had. There is a Power 
that wiU make you fearless." 

Then he told the sergeant about "The Great Companion," 
and passed on to tell others, up to the moment when they finally 
went over the top, calm and courageous, because of the action 
of the captain who remembered God. Many times that day, 
during the terrific rain of shot and shell, the men of Company 
H repeated the words their captain had given them, "Thou art 
with me," and fought on and on with brave hearts and steady 
nerves. 

WOUNDED, BUT STUCK TO POST. 

An American soldier named Lewis, a private, had been, 
ordered to a certain spot to pick off a German sniper, who was 
holding up an advance of soldiers. The sergeant was dismayed 
to see a German shell fall on the exact spot where he had told 
Private Lewis to go. A few moments later the sergeant went 
7 



96 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

up to investigate. The soldier was there, lying in a firing posi- 
tion, and, although severely wounded from the exploding shell, 
spoke cheerily to his superior: 

"I nearly got him the last time. I'll get him next shot or 
know the reason why." 

The shell that burst there had shot away the plucky soldier's 
right foot, and had severely wounded his hip, but his one thought 
just then was to "get the Boche." 

TRAPPED A BUNCH OF GERMANS. 

Corporal Fred Hubbell, of Toledo, Ohio, got lost from hia 
detachment during a battle in France. In wandering about he 
discovered some Germans in a dugout. To one who came to the 
entrance, and who spoke English, he commanded: 

' ' Send every man out ! " 

None came. Hubbell, fearing a trap, started out to find other 
American soldiers, when he discovered another exit to the dug- 
out, from which a German officer was just emerging, pistol in 
hand. The corporal immediately leveled his rifle and ordered the 
German to drop his pistol. He then made the entire number 
come up and drop their arms as they emerged. He marched 
the whole bunch to the rear, when it was discovered he had taken 
as prisoners, single-handed, one major, three captains, six lieu- 
tenants and twenty-two privates. 

The reader will observe, no doubt, that nearly one-third of the 
captured Germans were officers, which shows that the leaders of 
the Huns were themselves lacking in courage. 

RISKED LIFE TO SAVE BABY. 

During one of the big drives on the French front, the U. S. 
Marines were holding back the Germans with a grueling machine- 
gun fire, when one of them observed the frantic actions of a 
French woman, and ran over to her, asking what was the matter. 
She said her child had been left in a house between the lines. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS _9Z 

"Wait here a minute," said he; 'J I '11 get the baby for you." 
He rushed through the rain of bullets to the house indicated, 
and soon had the child in his arms, holding it so as to protect 
it as much as possible as he made his way back. Seeing that the 
little one was still crying after being placed with its mother, 
he inquired why. The child wanted its "dolly and doggie." 

He again risked his life, returned with the treasures, and 
placed them in the hands of the delighted child. The mother 
was so impressed with the act as being typical of the Americana 
that she later asked an American Y. M. C. A. secretary if she 
might send her baby in his care out of harm's way. 

KEEPING A PROMISE TO PRAY. 

In one of Gipsy Smith's meetings in a Y. M. C. A. hut in 
France, attended by Canadians, several hundred stood up to say, 
"God helping me, I am going to lead a better life." And then 
he put another test: 

"Those of you who will promise to kneel down and pray 
to-night in your billets, come up and shake hands with me as 
you go out." 

He was kept there half an hour shaking hands with the 
husky Canadian boys who made the promise. 

In one billet were nine fellows, and in the great crowd that 
had been assembled, not one knew that the other eight had all 
made the same promise. The first one to arrive at the billet 
found he was alone. He had a strange experience. When he 
started to kneel, he felt as if he couldn't do it. It seemed 
harder to kneel there alone than if he had been compelled to do it 
in the presence of the others. Then the thought came to him: 

"Suppose the others come and find me kneeling here?" 

So he turned in and tried to pray with the blankets over him, 
but he couldn't do that, either. Presently one of his comrades 
came in, soon another, and another, until the eight beside him- 
self were all there. Every fellow, still ignorant of the action 



98 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

of the others, seemed perplexed about something, and finally one 
of them, known as the worst swearer in the crowd, blurted out: 

"Boys, did you hear him?" 

"Yes," they all answered, and the profane man replied with 
a strange tone in his voice: 

"Well, fellows, the best thing we can do is to kneel down, 
and say a little prayer." 

With this, the one in bed jumped out, blanket and all, say- 
ing: 

"I was there; I promised, and I'm with you." 

When they arose from their knees the one who had first 
spoken — the one who could hardly talk without swearing — said, 
with a lump in his throat: 

"Boys, I've cut it aU out — no more drink, not another drop. 
And I've cut out something else — no more swearing." 

Every man there solemnly promised him: 

"We're with you — we'll cut it aU out." 

And they did, finally. It was hard at first, and some of 
them broke their promise, but they all stood loyally by each 
other until the fight for a clean life was won in the heart of 
every one of the nine. 

CONTBAST OF COUEAGE AND COWAEDICE. 

Perhaps no one thing so sharply contrasts the difference be- 
tween those who are in the right and those in the wrong; those 
fighting for principle and for home, against those fighting for 
greed and conquest — as the attitude of the French and the Ger- 
mans in the great war. 

When, in March, 1918, the Huns succeeded in sending shells 
into the city of Paris from a mighty gun seventy-six miles 
away, shattering some buildings, including a church, and killing 
several hundred persons, the French did not become panic- 
stricken, nor for one second think of surrendering to the enemy. 
The dastardly act only made them all the more courageous and 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 99 

all the more determined to win. Tke people of Paris continued 
in the daily routine of life, for wartime, standing as resolutely 
to the task of fighting to a finish as at any time before. 

Then, when, in July of the same year, the mighty giants of 
war fought again, the tide turned against the Huns, and they 
were driven back, until the fighting-line was getting closer and 
closer to German soil. The Germans four hundred miles away, 
in the city of Berlin, began to tremble and demand of their 
rulers that the war be brought to an end. While no gun had 
fired a visible shell into Berlin, the shell of a united determina- 
tion on the part of the Allies to put an end to the atrocities 
committed by order of and in the name of the Kaiser had pene- 
trated the great German metropolis, and also in the royal palace 
at Potsdam did the inmates of royal blood feel the force of the 
explosion of outraged humanity. 

Paris, in the right, was calm and courageous, with shells each 
weighing 350 pounds falling in her midst, while Berlin, in the 
wrong, was in a panic of fear with the nearest shell four hun- 
dred miles away, but nevertheless piercing the air with such force 
as to compel the Kaiser and his whole cowardly brood of throne 
inheritors to flee for their lives, skulking and hiding like the 
thieves and murderers that they were. This demonstrates the 
contrast between real courage and cowardice that must forever 
mark the difference between the French and the Germans in the 
great war of 1914-18. 

TEEEIBLE COST OF A LITTLE DELAY. 

Gallipoli is a peninsula at the southwestern extremity of 
European Turkey. Between it and Asiatic Turkey are the Straits 
of the Dardanelles, leading to the Sea of Marmora and Constan- 
tinople. 

Early in 1915 the Allies opposed to the Central Powers 
attempted to force the passage of these straits. It was one of 
the greatest undertakings in naval history; but, although they 



100 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

did actually fight their way for about ten miles through a 
terrible gauntlet of fortifications, mines, nets and all kinds of 
obstacles, they were finally obliged to give up the undertaking. 
Then they determined to try to land troops on the peninsula 
itself, in order to destroy the fortifications from the rear and 
thus give the ships a chance. Unfortunately, before they were 
able to attempt this, the Turks, with thousands of men working 
feverishly against time, had done everything which human inge- 
nuity and effort could accomplish to make such an undertaking 
a military impossibility. That the Allies did land troops on 
naked beaches, within point-blank range of modern guns of 
every description, was undoubtedly the most astounding achieve- 
ment of this greatest of all wars. As one authority says of it: 

To conceive tlie preposterous thing was in itself a kind of sublime folly ; 
to attempt it, an almost incredible madness ; to accomplisli it, simply and 
plainly stated, a feat divine. Though, a thousand pens in the future essay 
the task, no justice can ever be done to the courage and determination 
of the men who made good that landing. View it only as an exploit, a 
martial achievement, and it takes rank as the most amazing feat of arms 
the world has ever seen or is likely to see. It goes upon the record, iromor- 
tal as the soul of man. 

And the most tragic thing about it all is that the great 
campaign would have been won had the left flank at Sulva Bay 
advanced only eight hours earlier. Had it not been for this, the 
whole history of the war might have been different. — American 
Magazine. 

BEGINNING A BIG BATTLE. 

William J. Kilmartin, of Company D, 117th Engineers, in a 
letter to a friend in the United States, gives a vivid description 
of the beginning of the big battle in the summer of 1918: 

Promptly at twelve o'clock, midnight, July 14, as though by pressure 
of an electric button, it seemed that hell was released in all its fury. Sim- 
ultaneously at that hour the guns of both sides opened in a pandemonium 
the likes of which I hope never again to witness. Tell at the top of your 
voice and a man two feet away barely heard you. 

The darkness of night was turned to the brightness of day. Along 
the front lines flare lights, star shells, artillery and gas signal rockets were 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS lOI 

breaking in the air. Aeroplanes were humming overhead. All about us 
were high explosives and shrapnel shells screeching, screaming and explod- 
ing. The fragments, rough in form, but with keenest edge, whistled every- 
where. 

We crouched low, waiting the alarm of a broken line, but to the credit 
of our boys be it said that time never came. We were in the barrage 
preceding the advance — and some barrage it was I The enemy ranged its 
hea^T guns six miles behind our front line and gradually combed for- 
ward with a terrific fire, in hope of annihilating our ammunition trains, 
dumps and reserve troops. What a scene! What an experience! 

The writer then tells how the reserves were ordered to hold 
a certain ditch which was so dangerous that it was named 
''Suicide Ditch." But they held it, even though it meant the 
death or severe wounding of many of the brave lads. No one 
shirked. Every man faced his duty, whether it meant wounds, 
death, or, more remarkable than all, escape from injury, in a 
place that would seem certain destruction for everything and 
everybody. 

The smile of joy in proving equal to the emergency was on 
the . face of many of the brave dead boys in the awful carnage 
of that indescribable scene. 

GIRL TELEGRAPHER OUTWITS BANDITS. 

What was apparently an effort, on the part of three men 
acting in the interests of Germany, to wreck a train loaded with 
ammunition for shipment to the American troops in France, was 
brought to naught by the courage and quick action of Stella 
Vensel, telegraph operator for the Pennsylvania Railroad, at 
Mount Braddock, near Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 

A short time before the train was due at that point she 
heard voices, and peering out in the darkness — for it was night — 
she saw three forms a short distance away, putting something 
on the track. Instantly she flashed her electric lamp at them 
and shouted: 

' ' Hey ! You men ! Get away from there ! ' ' 

Immediately one of the men fired a shot at her that smashed 
through one of the tower windows near her. 



102 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

' ' Move a finger and we '11 kill you ! ' ' came ringing through 
the air from one of the three. 

She replied with a shot from one of her own two loaded 
revolvers, and called back to them: 

' ' Eun, while you are still alive, you curs ! ' ' 

Soon she heard the men coming up the steps of the tower, 
and quickly barricaded the door with a heavy desk and other 
objects. Finding they could not break in, they fired through 
doors and windows, but, fortunately, she was not even touched 
by their bullets. 

Being sure of their desperate character, at the first possible 
moment she turned to her table, threw open all the wires, and 
repeatedly flashed: 

* ' Trmn wreckers ! B^ish help ! ' ' 

For a moment there was silence. Then came dots and dashes 
spelling out: 

"Sold on! Help coming!" 

The girl looked out again, and saw the men piling more ties 
on to the track. Just thirty minutes from the time she had first 
seen them, she heard the rumble of a train. Not knowing 
whether it was the ammunition train rushing to certain destruc- 
tion, or the relief train, she was under great suspense for a 
short time. She saw the train stop, and knew it was the relief 
train. It had halted within a hundred yards of the bandits and 
the ties. Evidently thinking it was the ammunition train, they 
did not take to their heels until men from the train rushed, 
toward them, firing, but the criminals escaped to the woods in 
the darkness. 

"When questioned as to how she was able to keep so cool and 
do her work, she replied: 

''I was brought up to fear no one. My father had Mexican 
blood and my mother Indian. I was raised on the frontier, in 
the United States, on the Mexican border. I learned telegraphy 
from a railway operator when a girl," 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 103 

She was married July 4, 1918, to C. H. Mink, a soldier, and 
at the time of her terrible experience he was fighting with the 
American troops in France, but she preferred to be known by 
her maiden name until his return. 

SOMETHING WOESE THAN DEATH. 

In one of the Southern army camps a soldier, not quite 
nineteen years of age, called on the Y. M. C. A. secretary, much 
distressed in mind because of the difficulty he was having in 
living the Christian life, as he had promised his mother he 
would do. 

"The day I left home," he said, ''my mother put both her 
hands on my shoulder, saying: 'My boy, I hate to see you go; 
it breaks my heart. I'm not afraid of bullets or rigid military 
discipline; in fact, I'm proud to have a boy give his life for 
his country, but you know what I fear most. Son, can you come 
back home, if God permits it so, as clean as you are now? And 
when you do come back, we'll get together as we are in this 
kitchen now, in this same position, and you need not tell me 
you are clean. I'll see it in your eye. Can you do it, my boy? 
Can you do it for your mother?' " 

With the assurance that he would keep clean, she handed 
him a neat little Testament and said: 

' ' Take this ; it will help to keep you clean ; and read a part 
each day, and I'll do my share by praying for you from the old 
home. ' ' 

It developed, during the conversation with the secretary, that 
the boy didn't have the courage to read the Testament in the 
presence of his tent-mates. The Y. M. C. A. man urged him to 
do so, if he was to keep his promise to his mother. The lad 
replied by saying: 

"I'll Tceep my promise or die." 

The first night, when the others were undressing, he sat by 
the edge of his bunk and commenced reading by the light of a 



104 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

candle. A shoe from across the tent knocked the candle down, 
and it rolled under his bunk. He lit it a second time only to have 
it put out again in the same way. But he lit it a third time. 
One by one the other fellows fell asleep, and he read seven 
chapters from Matthew before he retired. He reported next day 
to the secretary, who said to him: 

"Can you repeat the process to-night?" 
"Sure, if I got through the first night, I can." 
For ten consecutive days the boy reported to the secretary, 
each time a little more encouraged, until finally four of the fel- 
lows in his tent were joining him each evening in the reading 
of their Testaments, and profanity and vile talk had been prac- 
tically cut out. The day before the regiment was to be trans- 
ferred the secretary asked him: 

"Can you look your mother in the eye when you go home?" 

"I can look anybody in the eye!" he promptly replied, his 

face beaming with the joy of a clean life and a clear conscience. 

FACED DEATH UNFLINCHINGLY. 

But few branches of the service of the United States army 
in France called for greater skill and courage than that for 
motorcycle despatch-riders. One who witnessed the thrilling 
spectacle reports the following: 

An officer called for volunteers to deliver a message under 
circumstances that meant almost sure death. Six motorcycle 
despatch-riders promptly offered their services. Straight away 
for half a mile stretched the road that must be covered, where 
machine-gun bullets whizzed like bees around a hive, mingled 
with the whine of the sniper's bullets, bursts of shrapnel and 
an occasional high-explosive shell. Entirely aside from the 
danger of being hit by missiles from guns, the ride itself, at 
the speed required, was exceedingly dangerous, as the road was 
rutted and shell-torn nearly every foot of the way. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 105 

Knowing all this, not one of the six volunteers hesitated nor 
flinched in the least. 

"No. 1," the oflficer called, and away sped the first. For 
a furlong,, he escaped, then went down before a shell from the 
German lines. The dust from the explosion had not died away 
when the officer said: "No. 2," 

The second rider lived to ride only a hundred yards. 

In but little more time than it takes to tell it, the first 
five had gone down to death before the hail of projectiles. The 
officer raised his hand as though to detain the last of the six, 
but, although this young soldier had seen his comrades all go 
down, he took the message, smiled and darted away at a speed 
of almost sixty miles an hour. 

The officer and others standing near saw the rider pass the 
quarter mark safely; then groaned as his machine hit a shell- 
hole and sailed through the air in a wild leap it seemed no 
machine could survive; cheered frantically as the young hero 
hit the road again safely and still sped on, and on and on. 

So tense was the situation that the onlookers scarcely breathed, 
but finally drew long, sobbing breaths of relief and reaction as 
the rider disappeared behind the friendly shelter of the wooded 
hills at the end of the stretch. He had arrived safely. 

The training required for such service was very strenuous, 
as would be imagined. The riders, after getting under headway 
at a speed of fifty miles an hour, ran up on a heavy spring- 
board, raised several feet from the ground at the farther end, 
and then sped through the air at a distance proportionate to 
speed, weight of machine, etc., before striking the earth. 

It was not uncommon for riders to thus leap through the 
air thirty-five or forty feet. The record for such a jump at the 
United States Army Detachment Training School at Richmond, 
Virginia, was fifty-nine feet, made by Private H. G. Gates. By 
this practice the riders were enabled to leap safely over great 
shell-holes torn in the earth by the powerful explosives used. 



106 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

COWARDICE 

HUN DEEADS OWN MEDICINE. 

A German aviator who was brought down during a raid over 
London was taken to a hospital where his wounds were given 
attention. He was brought in boasting of the ruin caused in 
London by the German bombs. Two nights later a German air- 
raid took place in the region of the hospital where he was 
located. He was so terror-stricken that he jumped out of bed 
and tried to find refuge in a room below. In his panic of fear 
he fell downstairs and received injuries which caused his death. 

GEEMAN NAVY'S COWAEDICE. 

"When the armistice terms had been signed on November 11, 
1918, Admiral Sir Eossl^-n Wemyss was appointed by the Allies 
to notify the German envoys of the naval conditions, requiring the 
Huns to surrender their navy. The Germans at first protested. 

"It is not right, ' ' said one of their officers, ' ' that our fleet 
should be given up without having been beaten." 

' ' It had only to come out ! ' ' was the cutting reply of Admiral 
Wemyss. 

The German said no more. He knew it was true. The cow- 
ardly conduct of the German navy in keeping itself shut up 
during the' bloodiest war in history will never be blotted out of 
the records of the great conflict. 

WHEN AMERICAN SOLDIERS MUTINIED. 

While engaged in Y. M. C. A. work in France, Fred B. Smith 
came upon a company of Uncle Sam's soldiers which had 
mutinied. He was of course amazed and made inquiry as to the 
cause. Speaking of it, he said: 

"This company had been ordered into the front line, and a 
junior officer, v/ho was in command, had requested his superiors 
for a delay. As a result, the company was not sent in. The men 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 107 

interpreted the officer's action to mean that he was afraid; that 
when the time came for him to go into danger, he had turned 
yellow. So when they received the order to go in next time, 
they simply refused to do it with that man as their leader. They 
themselves were perfectly willing to go anywhere — but not with 
a man who was yellow. To their belief, he had been guilty of 
the worst sin of which a soldier is capable. The man was trans- 
ferred, and another oflScer placed in command of the company." 

AFRAID OF BEING A COWARD. 

"Trench dreams," a phase of the condition known as "sheU- 
shock, " or "war-strain," which attracted the attention of the 
medical world during the war, is receiving much scientific atten- 
tion. Even before the war closed, a number of eminent doctors 
began the study of the disorder. 

Dr. E. Murray Auer, who for some time was attached to the 
Twenty-second General Hospital of the British Expeditionary 
Force, read a paper before the Philadelphia Neurological Society, 
which was published in the Medical Becord, in which he said: 

One of the most common, and at tlie same time most pitiful, of the 
many phenomena of the war is the inability to sleep soundly, and the 
recurrence of so-called "trench dreams." It is not uncommon to see soldiers 
start from their beds in the middle of the night, crying out and weeping, 
their bodies bathed in perspiration, as they dream of being chased by Ger- 
mans with bayonets, or of being buried under debris by a mine explosion, 
or of losing the trench in a fog and being unable to get back. 

The fear that is found is not the kind the layman might expect. 
The soldier does not, as a rule, fear injury to himself. He is afraid of 
doing something wrong, of an emergency in which he may fail and lose the 
confidence of his comrades. His is the fear of being a coward. 

CRUELTIES 

AMBULANCE SAVES FRENCH BALLOON. 

Except for the timely appearance of an American ambulance, 
a French observation balloon would have been felled at an 
important moment during a battle one day in August, 1918. The 



108 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

balloon was being fired upon by a Hun airman when the Red 
Cross ambulance passed below. This was too much for the Hun, 
as objects of mercy were special targets for cruelty for the 
average German fighter. The flyer gave up his attack on the 
balloon and swooped after the ambulance, directing a rain of 
machine-gun bullets at it. The running race continued until the 
aviator's ammunition apparently became exhausted, for he turned 
and sped back for safety. 

GERMANS USED SAW BAYONETS. 

Some Americans pretended to doubt that the Germans were 
as cruel as reports would indicate. Here is one letter of thou- 
sands that could be produced to show that it would be impossible 
to exaggerate the wicked conduct of the German soldiers. This 
is from Private Ben WeidJe, of Missouri, to relatives, written 
while he was right on the scene in France: 

Not satisfied with bayoneting a man, tlie Germans are now using a 
dagger bayonet which will tear the unfortunate victims to pieces. The in- 
strument is a very sharp-pointed bayonet with teeth like a saw. When 
thrust into a man, it tears the flesh in a most horrible manner. I found 
one of the daggers during a drive and turned it over to our commanding 
officer as evidence of Hun f rightfulness. 

A GERMAN ROLL OF DISHONOR. 

The British Admiralty, in publishing the names of 150 officers 
of German submarines who were ' ' disposed of, ' ' has given the 
world a roll of dishonor which will never be expunged. 

Leading all the rest, of course, is the name of Captain 
Schweiger, commander of the Hun U-boat which sank the 
"Lusitania," on May 30, 1915. He is dead, but we are not 
sure that fate has not been too kind to him. Captain Wagen- 
fuhr is dead too. Perhaps he is even worse than Schweiger, 
who at least could justify himself by claiming he was acting 
under orders. Wagenf uhr sank the steamship ' ' Belgian Prince, ' ' 
and then assembled its crew on the submarine deck and sub- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 109 

merged it, leaving them to dTown.^^SpoJcane Review, September, 
1918. 

NEW DECALOGUE FOR GERMANS. 

F. J. Affhauser, of Oakland, California, composed a new set 
of Ten Commandments harmonizing with the conduct of the 
Huns, and signed them "Kaiser Bill." Here is the Ninth: 

ThoTi slialt bear false witness, and swear falsely, and injure thyself 
wherever and whenever it is possible to do so, in order that German 
kultur shall not perish from the face of the earth. 

The Tenth, which certainly sounds as unreasonable as any 
product of a sane man could possibly be, and yet which is in 
perfect line with the actions of the Germans in the war, following 
the logical teachings of the Kaiser, is given thus: 

Thou shalt covet thy neig-hbor's wife, his daughter, his man-servant, his 
maid-servant, his ox, his ass, and everything that is thy neighbor's. Thou 
shalt put ground glass in his food; thou shalt poison and pollute his wella 
and his drinking-water; thou shalt desecrate, outrage and crucify his wives 
and daughters ; thou shalt not permit little children to live in happiness ; 
thou shalt cut off their hands, noses and ears, cut out their hearts and cut 
them to pieces with the sword. Thou shalt act so that all future gener- 
ations of mankind the world over shall hold the name of the Kaiser in 
utter loathing and contempt, for I, thy Kaiser, commandeth it. 

Kaiseb Bill. 

STRANGE GERMAN MENTALITY. 

When the war was at its bloodiest the following appeared in 
the German Volks Zeitung: , 

Much as we detest it as human beings and Christians, yet we eomlt in 
it as Germans. 

Any nation or race of people admitting a feeling of exulta- 
tion amid the most cruel crimes of history is ready for annihila- 
tion, and no one who loves humanity need mourn over the pass- 
ing away of such a people, unless perchance there might be saved 
from the wreck of such an empire some who are susceptible to 
the influences of civilization. 



110 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

GEEMANS USED IRON FISTS. 

Private E. F. Hughes, of the Fifteenth Field Artillery, in 
writing from France to J. H. Hageman, president of the St. 
Andrew's Place Club, BrookljTi, New York, of which he was a 
member, described some of the battles in which he was engaged. 
Speaking of one in particular, which finally came down to a fist- 
fight between the opposing sides, he said: 

Germans were caught with, weapons that they put on their hands in 
a fist-fight, and they were made of iron, with five very sharp points on 
them. You can just imagine the dirty work they are trying' to get away 
with, but they don't, for we Americans are giving them the trimming of 
their life, which they will remember for some time to come. 

TEUTONISM TEIMMED TO A "T." 

Charles Dutton, of Montclair, New Jersey, although eighty- 
one years of age when the • war closed, and ranked among the 
most active corporation auditors in New York City, wrote a 
remarkable essay of over five hundred words, every one of which 
begins with the letter "t." This essay was published in the 
Montclair Times. Here are a few sentences from it, which indi- 
cate the line of thought followed by the aged and talented 
author : 

Triithful thinkers, turning their thought to those troublous times, trace 
the tributary terrors to Teutonism. 

The Teutons turn their thought to treachery, to trickery, to tyranny. 

They transmit these three thought types to transactions that testify to 
the truth that these triplicate Teutonic traits transcend the Turk's topmost 
tyrannous thought. 

GEEMAN SPOET: KILLING DOCTOES. 

Many times during the war it was impressed upon the civilized 
nations that wounded men of the allied armies were not objects of 
pity to the Germans, but possible future fighting men to be dis- 
posed of by any treachery or cruelty it was possible to carry 
out. Doctors and nurses of the Allies were no longer ministers 
of mercy in the eyes of the Germans, but conservers of the battle 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS TM 

strength of the enemy, and as such were ruthlessly attacked, 
many times with fatal results. Speaking of this condition, Dr. 
Woods Hutchinson said in the Bed Cross Magazine : 

The inhuman logic which has made the German psychology a puzzle 
and a horror to the civilized world has refused to recognize the age-old im- 
munities of the profession of the art of healing, and announced that one 
doctor is to be regarded as the equal of eight soldiers, and instructed 
their gunners, snipers and airmen to "fire one warning shot," and then 
vigorously engage them at once. 

''THE REGION OF BLACK RUIN." 

Even during the awful carnage of war the people of France 
and their friends did not comprehend the extent of the destruc- 
tion in that land of former beauty, by the invading Germans. 
When the calm of peace came and the people had time to 
reflect, the a.wfulness of the ruin was almost overwhelming. 
Even then, the French citizens went right ahead with wonderful 
heroism in the work of reconstruction. 

About forty miles from Paris began "the region of black 
ruin," as one writer described the dark picture: 

It extends one hundred miles to the north, one hundred and twenty- 
five miles to the south, and one hundred miles to the east. Everywhere is 
the mark of the German firebrand, the axe, the vandal, the poisoner, the 
thief, the German fiend. Gone are the vines, the plum-trees, the berries 
and apples. Gone the beautiful bridges and the imposing old churches, 
architectural glories of Fraivce ; gone the museums and galleries, the art 
treasures that nvere the pride of civilization. It is a wild land and a waste 
place, mangled, uptorn, polluted. It was once populous, industrious, the 
sanctuary of happy homes. 

KAISER WANTED JEWS CRUSHED. 

When the Jewish question was coming to the front so rapidly, 
with Palestine captured from the Turks by the British, and dis- 
cussion was being indulged in on all sides concerning the Zionist 
movement, some one unearthed an old document throwing much 
light on the attitude of the Kaiser toward the Jews. 

This was a pamphlet, in the New York pubMe library, pub- 
lished in 1885, by Alexander Zederbaum, editor of the Petrograd 
8 - 



1 12 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

Eamelits. Included in the pamphlet was a speech made by the 
Kaiser at a feast given in 1881 in honor of several Russian 
generals and other high officials -who visited Berlin, on which 
occasion the Kaiser is quoted as follows: 

Mt Deab Guests and Friends of Holy Russia: — I do not love the 
Jews, knowing well that in Germany men like Karl Marx, Edward Lasker, 
and others, are undermining the monarchial spirit and plan the ruin of the 
present system of government. But in our country they are deeply rooted ; 
therefore it is necessary to act carefully, as they are leaders in science, 
in finance, in culture, in industry. 

But it is different in Russia. I advise you to learn from us. Crush 
them before it is too late. Crush them in every possible way. I beg you 
to take this lesson home with you. 

The very next year the world was shocked by the massacres 
of Jews in hundreds of towns in Russia. Even then thinking 
people laid a considerable portion of the blame for the awful 
slaughter at the door of the German Kaiser, charges and denials 
being hurled back and forth with much warmth. Finally, Zeder- 
baum, the author of the pamphlet quoted, sent an appeal to the 
Kaiser begging him to deny the statement attributed to him. 

To this letter the Kaiser made no reply. 

It is clear from all this why the Kaiser so heartily welcomed 
the Turks as allies in the great war. The Jews stood in his 
way for world-conquest, and must be crushed in Palestine, other- 
wise his plans would at best be only partially successful. The 
Turks could be trusted to do their worst. 

EARTH'S BIGGEST OUTLAW AND ROBBER. 

The outlaw is apparently brave as long as he has the advan- 
tage of his victim, but when the tables are turned he is invariably 
a rank coward. This applies to both small and big robbers. 

It proved true in the case of the Kaiser, As long as he was 
able to hold his position at the head of the German Government, 
he spoke in bombastic bravery, and strode the earth in defiance 
of treaties and human rights, without mercy or pity. He was 
earth's biggest and most notorious robber. He was possessed 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 113 

of every characteristic of the thief and the highwayman. He 
was just a little higher up in the trade of crime, by the mere 
accident of birth, which placed him on a throne, with power 
over millions of subjects. 

The revelations which came to light after his abdication indi- 
cated that he was not possessed of real good horse sense. He 
seemed to lack the ability to see both sides of a question. He 
could see only his own dream of world power, and it looked com- 
paratively easy to him — at least, to him it seemed a sure thing. 
The average American boy or girl of fifteen to twenty years of 
age knew his dream was impossible of realization, but not he. 
His immense amount of egotism blinded him to reason, and pre- 
vented him grasping real world conditions. He was simply a 
good student of weapons for murder and plunder on a gigantic 
scale. 

With his own country left in a condition bordering on starva- 
tion and anarchy, he was not content to get away with his life. 
He had his servants cart scores of bags of gold to the Holland 
frontier, and then smuggled it through the customs barrier. 
Here, again, he manifested his total disregard of law, even 
German law. In 1914 he himself promulgated an act, which 
became official, making it a crime to export gold from Germany. 

Everything goes to indicate that had William HohenzoUern 
not been in the line of birth for the throne, he would have made 
a first-class burglar, outlaw, robber, thief, traitor, murderer^ 
smuggler, highwayman, felon, villain, pirate, assassin. He repre- 
sented all these, and more, in the crimes he committed as the 
head of the German Empire. 

GEEMAN OEDERS TO DESTROY. 

Despite all their protests before the outer world, the Huns 
did their utmost to ravage and destroy the territory they 
evacuated after the armistice terms had been signed. Here is 
an army order, captured by General Pershing's men, addressed 



1 14 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

to the 108th. Brigade of German Infantry, which settles the 
matter for all time that the destruction of property and the 
poisoning of wells was a part of the German plan of warfare: 

A recent army order requires that we shall proceed in the future with 
more method and less haste in the destruction of property which has been 
marked out. Divisions have already been notified that they will be held 
responsible for buildings not destroyed in their area. In consequence, all 
preparations should be made for firing straw which has been collected. 

Then foUows a long list of villages to be destroyed. The 
order concludes: 

All soldiers are bound to assist to the best of their ability in the execu- 
tion of this mission. It will be remembered that there are means to defile 
wells. Mines must not be exploded too soon. It is the duty of every man 
to co-operate in the work of destruction. 

When the German army was at the height of its power and 
perpetrating atrocities in the full confidence that later Germany 
would be able to make the world think the Huns were right, 
everything done was justified, in the eyes of the German people, 
by the phrase, "It is war." Old men drooled it and children 
were taught to lisp it. War glorified everything, as long as Ger- 
many waged it victoriously in an enemy country. 

However, when the tide turned and Germany was forced to 
surrender, the philosophical calm of the people disappeared. 
There was whining and play for sympathy from the highest 
to the lowest. This, says one writer, is a sign of spiritual and 
intellectual underdevelopment. A truly cultured people shows the 
same capacity for fortitude as it does for elation. 

GERMAN CROWN PRINCE WAR-MAD. 

Ambassador Gerard, who represented America at the Imperial 
German Court at Berlin for four years prior to the beginning 
of the war, in one of his books makes the statement that the 
German Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm gloried in the thought 
of war, and had made this statement to an American lady friend 
of Gerard: 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS Hj 

"If there is not war during my father's reign, there will be 
war when I ascend the throne.'' 

Capt. Edward Lyell Fox, an American resident of Berlin up 
to the break in diplomatic relations, described the Crown Prince 
as "clever, amazingly so. His face does not show it. He has 
been caricatured to represent a rabbit. There is no denying that 
his features look weak. The emptiness of his face is a mask that 
nature has given him apparently to conceal the shrewd, calcu- 
lating brain behind." 

Captain Fox, referring to the pretended mental agony of the 
Crown Prince every time he saw a list of German killed or 
wounded, relates an incident of his boyhood: 

The' Crown Prince had two pet dogs. He wanted them to sit on their 
haunches and hold their forelegs out straight. It would be a pretty sight 
when he took his dogs out riding in a little basket-cart I He couldn't train 
one of the dogs to stick his legs out like ramrods. Becoming greatly ex- 
asjierated, he snatched the little animal by the neck and choked it to death 
with its nose buried in the dirt. 

To make sure that the other dog would hold out its legs properly, 
Friedrich Wilhehn broke both of them! It could never bend them after 
that. They were indeed as straight as ramrods. His Imperial Highness 
was pleased ! 

The writer continues: 

There is nothing in the Crown Prince's face to show that he is a 
Hohenzollem. His face lacks the soldierly appearance that stares out from 
the imperial visage of Wilhehn II. He has a smile that might indicate 
a kind heart, if one did not remember stories of his youth. 

DEPENDENTS 

BITS OF UNCONSCIOUS HUMOR. 

A girl clerk in the War Risk Insurance Department at Wash- 
ington, D, C, was much amused with the bits of unconscious 
humor in some of the letters received from dependents of Amer- 
ican soldiers carrying insurance, and sent extracts to her home 
paper, among which were the following: 



116 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

I have your letter. I am his grandfather and grandmother. He was 
bom and brought up in this house according to your letter. 

I ain't got no money since my boy went sailing over the top. 

I do not receive my husband's pay. I will be compelled to live an im- 
mortal life. 

I have never received my elopement. 

Please send me my allotment. I have a little baby and knead it 
every hour. 

Please let me know if John has put in an application for a wife and 
child. 

THIS NEGRO WAS THOUGHTFUL. 

During the registrations for military service ' ' down South, ' ' 
a negro stepped into an office and said to the men in charge: 

"Ah wants to claim 'ceptions." 

"You mean exemptions, don't you?" 

"Yes, boss. Ah specks dat's it. Ah jest can't get all dem 
new-fangled words." 

"Got any dependents?" 

"What's dat you say, boss?" 

"Is there any one dependent upon you — any one you are 
expected to help take care of?" 

Scratching his head thoughtfully, he replied: 

"Yes, boss, they is seberal of dem 'pendents — de butcher, de 
grocer an ' de — an ' de saloon-keeper. Dat 's all, boss ! ' ' 

DISAPPOINTMENT 

FOOTBALL PLAYER'S CHAGRIN. 

A certain famous American football player, wearing the 
U. S. army uniform in France, was in line with his comrades, 
all ready for a charge, when he was sent back to oversee the 
erection of an ammunition dump, well to the rear. Expressing 
his disappointment later, he said in a dejected way: 

"It was far worse than being taken out of the line-up just 
before we tackled Yale." 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS HJ 

THE STATESMAN'S OPINION. 

During the exciting days just before the United States de- 
clared war against Germany, a secret conference was held at 
Washington, with many prominent men present, both from the 
North and the South. The newspapers were anxious to get all 
the information possible. One reporter cornered a courteous 
Southerner, of the *'old school," and said in his most persuasiTe 
manner : 

"1 would be greatly pleased to have your opinion of the 
war. ' ' 

"Well, sah," said the Southern gentleman with a readiness 
that brought great hope to the heart of the reporter, "I haven't 
given it much thought recently, but I've always been of the 
opinion, sah, that Lee should not have surrendered. Good eve- 
ning, sah ! ' ' 

With this he turned courteously to greet an acquaintance 
standing near, leaving the reporter disappointed and completely 
dazed. 

DISEASE 

GOAT ISLAND'S FINE RECOED. 

During the epidemic of the so-called Spanish influenza, which 
swept over America in the summer and autumn of 1918, causing 
the death of many soldiers and sailors in the camps and training- 
stations, besides thousands of civilians, it "never touched" Goat 
Island, in the San Francisco Bay, during the first wave, although 
there were a few cases in the second "round." 

On this island at the time were seven thousand bluejackets 
at the Yerba Buena naval training-station, and there was not a 
single case of the disease for a period of nearly three months 
after the cities around the bay were afficted with it. This fine 
record was attributed to the promptness with which Government 



1 16 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

officers put the island under quarantine when the epidemic 
reached San Francisco. No other camp or training-station had 
such a record to report. There were many cases of the disease 
in all the others, and in some quite a large number of deaths. 

DREADED MORE THAN SHELLS. 

When the Spanish influenza was raging in different parts of 
the world, in 1918, the soldiers of a platoon in the trenches in 
France, waiting the word to go over the top, were discussing 
the serious consequences in some places where influenza was 
claiming many victims. 

"I tell you what. Corporal," said a private, with a shudder, 
"with all these men here so close together in the trenches, the 
*flu' would make this a horribly dangerous place, wouldn't it?" 

THE HEALTH OF AMERICAN SOLDIERS. 

One of the lessons learned in the great war was that loss from 
disease may be greatly reduced. This should apply in civil life 
as weU. A Chicago paper gives these figures: 

During the Mexican War in 1847 the death-rate from disease per year 
was one in ten of the men in the U. S. army. During our Civil War 
it was one in twenty-five. During the Spanish-American War it was one 
in forty, and in the Russo-Japanese War the rate of death by disease fell 
to one in fifty. 

During the world war the death-rate from disease among American 
troops, both at home and abroad, has been falling, and the latest report 
indicates only one in five hundred per year. It is only one-third as high 
as among men of military age in civil life, showing that health is three 
times as good in the army as out of it. 

It is a matter of sanitation and proper attention. America 
should heed and learn the lesson. 

NEGROES FRIGHTENED BY MASKS. 

While the influenza was at its height in this country, in 1918, 
with people everywhere wearing masks as a protection from the 
disease, thirteen hundred negroes drafted for service in the IT. S. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS n9 

army were given a big surprise when they arrived at Camp 
Wheeler, Georgia. Soldiers wearing influenza masks were there, 
pacing the depot station platform. 

* ' Ku Kluxes I" yelled the first negro who sighted them after 
landing on the platform, while the others crowded out to see 
what he meant, when the whole bunch of new arrivals stared at 
the masked soldiers in amazement. 

It took the military authorities some time to convince the 
negroes that the Ku Klux days had not returned, but that the 
masks were for the purpose of protecting the lives of the enlisted 
men from influenza. 

INFLUENZA IN THE ARMIES. 

The disease at first designated as "Spanish influenza," which 
brought distress and death to so many thousands of soldiers in 
all the countries engaged in the war, as well as to the civilian 
populations, may be traced, says the Medical Becord, to the 
pneumonic plague which devastated northern China in the autumn 
of 1910. 

Two hundred thousand Chinese Coolies from northern China 
were taken to France in 1917. Some of these were captured by 
the Germans. It is supposed the infection spread from the 
Chinese to the German soldiers, where its ravages were first 
heard of in war countries, at one time being so severe as to 
threaten the closing of the great Krupp works. The influenza 
was next heard of in Spain. It was probably brought to the 
United States by returning troops. 

For the Americans, this disease proved more disastrous than 
the great war, out of which it apparently came. While the 
total number of deaths of men in the service of the United 
States, from all war causes, was about 73,000, covering a period 
of nineteen months, the deaths in the United States from influ- 
enza reached a total of nearly 100,000 in the first few weeks 
while it was raging. 



120 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

DUTY 

CORPORAL DISOBEYS CAPTAIN. 

During the fighting in the Soissons region in France a young 
captain from Minnesota was seriously wounded. A corporal of 
his company, although himself wounded in the arm, comman- 
deered a group of German prisoners, secured a board, placed the 
captain upon it and started for the rear. They had gone less 
than half a mile when a shell burst near them, and killed oi 
wounded the Germans. The same shell shattered the corporal's 
hand and smashed the captain's leg. With both in awful pain, 
the captain looked up admiringly at the corporal and said: 

"Give me a pistol and you go on alone." 

"No, Captain," was the brave reply; "although you are my 
captain, this is one time I am not going to do as you say." 

He went off, commandeered more German prisoners, secured 
another board, and had his captain carried back to a dressing- 
station, where his life was saved. 

From this impressive incident we can get two lessons: Where 
there's a Avill there's a way; and there are times when rules must 
be set aside if the most humane thing is to be done. 

DYING COMMAND WAS "FORWARD." 

Captain Leahy, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, who was with a 
regiment in France that had been pursuing the retreating Ger- 
mans more than ten miles, in the region north of the Marne, 
was resting with his troops for a few moments by a roadside, 
the captain himself sitting with his back propped against a 
tree, when a German shell came whizzing through the air. It 
hit the tree against which he was leaning and snapped it off as 
though it were a match. Several soldiers were seriously wounded, 
and a piece of the shell struck the captain in the back, tearing 
its way through his cheat. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS m 

As his head sagged forward he "had time to realize his condi- 
tion and said to those about him: "Good-by, boys." 

The instant before the shell struck liim he had caught the 
signal from down the road that the regiment was to fall in and 
move forward. Although he knew he was dying, he remembered 
his duty, and, turning the regiment over to another officer, said 
with his last gasping breath: 

* ' Lieutenant Hansen, the command is * Forward I' " 

ECONOMY 

EVEN CHILDREN ECONOMIZED. 

During the days of food conservation in America, as one 
means of helping to win the war, it was thrilling to see with 
what interest and helpfulness the children everywhere fell in 
with the idea. One means of promoting conservation among 
them was the circulation of copies of the following pledge for 
them to si^: 

"I will avoid all waste, to this I truly swear. 
I will be careful of my clothes and everything I wear. 
No foolish pennies will I spend, but save, that I may give 
To those less fortunate than I, who find it hard to live. 
And what I take upon my plate I'U eat up every bit, 
Nor wiU I make complaint because I am not fond of it. 
And dishes new I'U learn to eat, as far as I am able, 
But one thing I will never be — that's finicky at table." 

THIRTY MILLION BUTTONS. 

A different design of button was used to give to purchasers 
of the various Liberty Loan bonds, which in years to come will 
no doubt be looked upon with growing pride in that for which 
they stand. 

For the fourth Liberty Loan, 30,000,000 buttons were made. 
Although each one was such a little bit of lithographed steel, yet 
the whole number made a total of fifteen freight-cars, loaded full. 



122 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

The little pins with which the buttons were fastened to the gar- 
ments of the wearers, if laid end to end, would reach 355 miles. 
By substituting the lithographed steel for celluloid — which 
was used in making the buttons of the preceding Liberty loans — 
the U. S. Government saved $65,000 in real money, a vast amount 
of celluloid which contains gun-cotton, an enormous quantity of 
white paper and hundreds of gallons of wood alcohol. 

PAPER CLOTHES IN GERMANY. 

Alfred G. Anderson, representing a Chicago paper, accom- 
plished the :i'emarkable feat, in the spring of 1918, of entering 
and leaving Germany, even going to Berlin, on the pretext of being 
a neutral who had business there. In writing of his experiences 
he said that up to that time there were over five hundred sub- 
stitute commodities in use in the empire. Among these were 
paper suits, worn by practically everybody but the very wealthy. 
He described being in a certain place when two workmen arrived, 
arrayed in dark blue paper suits. 

"I should not have noticed the substitute," said he, "had 
not I accidentally touched the coat of one of the men. It 
was as stiff as a pine board. The textile was about an eighth 
of an inch thick, and showed signs of cracking at the elbows. 
Both men said the suits were very uncomfortable. Later I saw 
many workmen wearing paper suits, which, I was informed, 
would wear out in a couple of weeks." 

He learned that experiments were being made with suits made 
principally of celluloid. 

"It is much stronger and warmer than paper," said a sales- 
man. "But I don't think it will be advisable to bring it too 
close to the fire, any more than it is wise to walk in the rain 
with paper clothes." 

Mr. Anderson saw all classes of people there going without 
shoes or stockings, on the streets, in the cars and other places. 
He reported that even young women of the refined class appeared 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 123 

in the coaches barefooted. A group" of five such entered a coach 
in which he was riding. 

"They talked about the prospects of peace and food, but 
never alluded a syllable to their feet," he said. "None of the 
other passengers paid any attention to them, as if such a sight 
was common, as later I found that it was." 

EFFICIENCY 

QUICK JUMP FROM FARM TO FRANCE. 

Grover Putnam, aged twenty-four, left the farm of his father 
in Sutter County, California, in September, 1918, going direct to 
Camp Lewis, Washington, where he remained overnight, and 
was sent the next day to New York. From there he sailed 
immediately for the scene of war, and within sixteen days from 
the time he quit driving horses at home, he was driving an 
ammunition team for Uncle Sam in France, within hearing of 
shot and bursting shells. This is one instance of many showing 
the efficiency of America's transportation system during the war. 

THE KNOCKOUT BLOW. 

Pending the arrival of the German envoys to discuss terms of 
the armistice which they had requested of General Foch, Premier 
Lloyd George, of England, said to the newspaper reporters, on 
November 9, 1918: 

"The issue is settled. Germany has a choice to-day. She 
will have none to-morrow. She is ruined inside and outside. One 
way to avoid destruction is immediate surrender. I am one of 
the believers in the knockout blow." 

What Lloyd George said of Germany is often true with indi- 
viduals. To-day opportunity is waiting for our decision. If we 
delay, we may never again have a choice concerning the par^ 
ticular thing then at stake. 



124 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

NEGRO CAPTURES GERMAN OFFICER. 

During the advance of the American soldiers near Chateau- 
Thierry, a Red Cross captain met an American negro soldier 
marching along the road close behind a German major that he 
had taken prisoner. The negro had transferred his pack to the 
back of the Hun officer, and had also transferred the officer's 
monocle to his own eye. Thus equipped, the black warrior was 
parading triumphantly down the road. As he passed the Red 
Cross man he called out: 

' ' Look a-heah ! See what dis nigger done got I " 

WHERE EXPERIENCE CAME HANDY. 

The American soldiers had difficulty' at times in comprehend- 
ing the mechanism of things German on the battlefields of France. 

"Can anybody run this?" asked a captain of his engineer 
company, pointing to a diminutive engine with a fly-wheel like 
a threshing-machine. 

"Sure, I can," promptly responded a private. "I've fired 
on twenty-seven railroads and have been fired from seven," he 
said with a broad grin. "I've worked on every kind of a 
locomotive the Baldwin works ever thought of, and I can run 
anything with four wheels that Fritz could build. I'll have 
this baby talking English in about an hour." 

SOLDIER SPEAKS TWELVE LANGUAGES. 

David Ben Isaac deKellscritta, a private soldier at Camp 
Upton, New York, was a Jew, a negro, a blood relative of King 
Menelik, born in Italian Somaliland, and, before becoming a 
citizen of the United States, was a naturalized Italian. 

During his examination for the purpose of determining his 
fitness for an assignment in the intelligence department of the 
U. S. army, he was questioned by five interpreters, and proved 
his complete familiarity with English, French, Spanish, German, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 125 

Russian, Polish, the Scandinavian languages, Italian, Greek, 
Arabian, Turkish, Hebrew and a number of dialects. 

An officer of the examining board, who was a college pro- 
fessor in private life, declared he believed deKellscritta to have 
no living equal as a linguist. 

The great war was responsible for a number of remarkable 
developments in the discovery of unusual talents in unsuspected 
places. 

WHY HE SHOT ONE PRISONEE, 

Private Lempuski didn't seem to be able to obey the com- 
mands, when with the Americans in France, so he was assigned 
to kitchen police duty. On the first day of the battle that 
finally wiped out the St. Mihiel salient, he got excited, left his 
kitchen work, and without a rifle rushed out and on to join his 
comrades. As he went he stuffed his pockets full of hand 
grenades. 

Coming to the door of a dugout, he saw a German captain, 
and ordered him to surrender. Not only did the captain obey, 
but three lieutenants and forty-six privates came forth and 
lined up as Lempuski 's prisoners. The last one, in coming out, 
hurled a potato smasher at the captor. This riled Lempuski 's 
temper, whereupon he picked up a discarded German rifle and 
shot the man dead in his tracks. 

He then marched his forty-nine prisoners back to the quarters 
of the intelligence officer, and, as he turned them over to that 
official, said: 

"I shoot one feller — he pretty mean guy." 

NURSE SPOILED INSURANCE PLANS. 

Many an American soldier returning to the home land owes 
his life to the splendid care received at the hands of some nurse 
in a hospital in France. In one of the hospitals in Paris lay 
one of Uncle Sam's soldiers who had been so severely wounded 



126 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

that he barely pulled through. It was agreed on all sides that 
he would not have lived at all but for the devoted efforts of 
his nurse, who hovered over him night and day. 

When he was iinally able to sit up in bed it was a smiling, 
happy boy who greeted his captain when he called to see how 
he was getting along. While they were talking, the nurse 
stepped in, and, after introducing her, the soldier said with a 
grin: 

"She's an awfully mean girl. Captain. She cheated my poor 
family out of $10,000 life insurance." 

AMEEICAN SOLDIEES KEEP EECOEDS. 

One of the biggest retail booksellers in London was asked 
what sort of books were most in demand by the American sol- 
diers, many thousands of whom were in that city, either going to 
or returning from the fighting-lines in Prance. He promptly 
answered : 

"Diaries! Whatever other kind of books the American sol- 
diers and sailors may want, the first thing they all ask for is 
a diary." 

With the censorship of letters removed at the close of the 
war, and with the return of our boys from overseas, the world 
discovered why the American soldiers wanted diaries. They had 
their eyes open and their minds alert. And the Huns, the cruel 
monsters in human form, soon realized that a child had been 
"amang ye takin' notes" of all their contemptible wickedness. 
What our boys saw and heard, as given from the notes in their 
diaries, makes a volume of material that the Germans can never 
outlive nor overcome with all the "propaganda" they can put 
forth. 

FLYING AND SAILING IN "V" SHAPE. 

The wonderful convoy system adopted by the United States, 
in sending our hundreds of thousands of soldiers to France in 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 127 

transports, followed the plan of flight adopted by fast migrating 
geese and ducks, going in the shape of the letter "V." That 
is, with one battleship in the lead, the others followed in two 
widening lines, for protection from submarines. 

In many of the air battles, the formation of the flying- 
machines also followed the example of the birds, flying in "Y" 
form, in going to and from the scene of conflict. 

The distinguished English aeronautic critic, F. W. Lancaster, 
pointed out that with ducks and geese in flight, the air imme- 
diately in the wake of a bird has residuary downward motion, 
and so is "bad" air, from the point of view of the bird follow- 
ing. On the other hand, the air to the right and left of the 
leader has residuary upward motion, and so is "good" air; con- 
sequently the "Y" formation gives each bird the best possible 
support. 

In air battles, however, the "Y" formation was often broken, 
for the important thing then was to outwit the enemy. 

WHY GERMANS FEAEED AMERICANS. 

Uncle Sam's soldiers who went into battle in the St. Mihiel 
salient in July, 1918, were astonished at the manner in which 
the Germans melted before them just as soon as the struggle 
got away from the trenches and was forced to the open plains. 
Thousands upon thousands of the Huns surrendered when their 
shelters became untenable. 

There were several explanations of this unexpected develop- 
ment of the war, but what seems to be the most reasonable came 
from British officers. One of their number expressed it thus: 

"The German soldiers learned at their first contact with the 
Americans that the average fighter was a giant and a demon 
in strength. The American, fed all his life on beef, wheat and 
oatmeal, proved himself to be much more than a match for any 
German, even one of greater size than himself. The word that 
the American was a terrifying adversary in man-to-man fighting 
9 



128 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

had spread throughout the German army, and the result was 
that the individual German had no wish to engage in single com- 
bat with a soldier of the American legion." 

EUEOPE ADMIRED AMERICAN TEETH. 

It is said the American dentists are considered the best in 
the world. It is well known that for a number of years the 
German Emperor had an American dentist, residing in Berlin, 
to do all his dental work. 

The teeth of our soldiers who went to England, France and 
other war-torn countries, were the subject of much comment, 
both private and public. A writer in the London Ifaily Mail said: 

It is all the more striking in that it is such a contrast to the teeth of 
the British people. The U. S. soldiers have set us a splendid example in 
this matter. They fairly shame the ordinary Tommy by their briUiant 
molars. 

Dr. W. A. Evans said in the Chicago Tribune-: 

The Scotchman's teeth are especially bad. The world never saw better 
fighters than these snaggled-tooth Scotch and English, but they would get 
on, better in the hospital and camp if their teeth were better. 

THE TERROR OF SUBMARINES. 

Of all the engines of naval destruetiveness produced in the 
war, there was no weapon more terrible than the newly devised 
depth bombs. The explosion of one lifts a column of water 
thirty yards wide to a height of fifty feet above the surface. A 
depth bomb discharged two hundred yards from a 30,000-ton 
ocean liner heaved her up six inches in the water. 

So terrible are the bombs that destroyers only drop them 
when running at full speed, in order to insure a get-away, and 
even then the iron plates of the boiler-room are often lifted by 
the concussion. 

The work of the destroyers with the aid of the depth bombs 
was so efficient that after two or three voyages, on the average, 
the German submarines never returned to their base. Whatever 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 129 

their fate, news of their destruction never reached their families 
at home or their war intelligence bureau, for the Allies gave out 
no information of submarine destruction except in a general 
way. The submarines were destroyed by the score. 

Sometimes when one was close to the surface the force of 
the depth-bomb explosions threw the craft partly out of the 
water — occasionally high in the air — ^but in more frequent 
instances the undersea assassin sank to the bottom, carrying its 
murderous crew with it. The only indication of the destruction 
that appeared on the surface was the presence of oil. 

WONDERFIJL WORK OF BRITISH NAVY. 

"What is the British navy doing?" was often asked during 
the first year or so of the war. One very important thing was 
that of keeping the German navy bottled up in its home waters 
where it could do no damage to other vessels or coast towns. 
Later the British navy was aided in its efficiency by American 
and other allies. 

But perhaps the most wonderful thing was that of making it 
possible to furnish such patrol service as permitted 5,000,000 
men to be transported across the English Channel, to and from 
France, in four and a half years, without losing one man, by sea 
travel. And this, too, almost under the guns of the German 
bases of supply for her submarine destroyers. One writer says 
of this wonderful feat: 

During the winter months I crossed the Dover Straits and the Chan- 
nel six times in British destroyers and transports, and always in stormy 
weather. It was never too rough for the vessels of the patrol to be 
sighted — sea power dominant and unbreakable. 

THE SOLDIER'S FOUNDATION. 

"The soldiers with the best feet are the best fighters," was 
one of the new slogans adopted for the American army after our 
entrance into the war. The War Department determined that 
not only the best of material should be used in making army 



130 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

shoes, but that the shoes of each man must be fitted with the 
greatest care. In some camps experts even taught the soldiers how 
to lace their shoes for the greatest possible comfort in walking. 

The foot measurements of each man became a part of his 
personal record. The measure of his foot was taken when he 
first went to camp, and then again after several weeks of march- 
ing, when his "military feet" had developed, before final 
decision as to the size of shoe he should wear when he went 
to the battlefield. It mattered not what size of shoe a soldier 
might say he wore, for it was found that many had been wear- 
ing shoes too small for them. Both feet of every man were 
carefully measured by experts in the business, and the shoes 
fitted accordingly. 

In other words, Uncle Sam carefully looked after the welfare - 
of his soldiers "from the ground up." 

THE SURPEISED LIEUTENANTS. 

"If France were a second Sodom or Gomorrah, our soldiers 
would be safe there," wrote Rheta Childe Dorr, war correspon- 
dent, in the early part of 1918. She based her conclusion upon 
the efficiency of the "American Military Police" system, estab- 
lished purposely to meet the demands for protection of American 
soldiers in France, and explained: 

They police Paris and all other cities, towns and villages in our zone. 
They keep track of our soldiers in their daily walks abroad, whether on 
duty or pleasure bent. There are certain rules in our expeditionary forco 
which apply to all alike, from General Pershing to the private. One of 
these rules is that no member of the expeditionary forces may associate 
with women of the submerged class. 

If an American MUitary Policeman sees an officer or a soldier in such 
company, it is his duty to immediately separate the two, and gather the 
offending man in. If he fails to do so, and the fact is established, the po- 
liceman is punished. But he doesn't fail. 

Some of the American officers didn't believe at first that a 
mere private soldier would dare arrest them for the offense. Two 
lieutenants who held this opinion started out in Paris to have a 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS m 

high time, and it was not long until they were found in the com- 
pany of two women of the underworld. 

They became very indignant when a young private soldier of 
about twenty-five, wearing the brassard marked ''A. M. P.," 
walked up to them, saluted, and stepped between them and the 
open door of a taxicab into which they were helping the women. 

"Beg pardon," said the soldier to the lieutenants, "I shall 
have to request you to accompany me to headquarters." 

The officers were angry in an instant. One of them thrust 
his fist under the policeman's nose and insultingly said: 

"What would you do if I were to push your face in and go 
on my way?" 

Promptly drawing his revolver and placing it under the 
lieutenant's nose, he replied, calm but determined: 

*'I would do my duty, sir. I wish you'd try it. You're the 
kind of an officer the American army could afford to lose sud- 
denly. ' ' 

There was no further resistance. The lieutenants accompanied 
the young American Military Policeman greatly humiliated. 

MENTAL ALERTNESS BRINGS PROMOTION. 

Jacob Shapiro, aged twenty-three, a native of Russia, enlisted 
with the rank of private in the 152d Depot Brigade, and was 
sent to Camp Upton, Long Island. He had not been there long 
until he was compelled to do ''kitchen police" duty. In dishing 
out the beans, in the hurly-burly haste of messtime, he gave each 
soldier his correct portion without the least apparent difficulty, 
so that every bean was used, with no favoritism in the way of 
a few more beans for some than others. 

It was not long before Shapiro's fame spread throughout the 
camp. He was then assigned to duty assisting medical officers 
in examinations. One day the weary officer paused long enough 
to ask: 

"How many more are waiting outside?" 



132 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 



With a fleeting glance the young man answered almost in- 
stantly: 

"Two hundred and thirty-seven." 

The astonished medical officer took the young private to the 
cantonment adjutant, and later Shapiro was introduced to the 
chief of staff, Colonel Powers. The officer emptied a box of 
matches on the floor and asked, "How many?" Shapiro gave 
the correct number after just a hasty look over the scattered 
bits of wood. 

The major saw clearly that he would be of far greater service 
in the aero branch than anywhere else, for from an aeroplane 
he could obtain valuable information as to the number or quan- 
tity of enemy possessions for use of the American forces in 
planning attacks. Accordingly Shapiro was sent to Camp Taylor, 
Kentucky, for training in aerial observation work. 

LESS NOISE, MORE EFFICIENCY. 

After a year and a half of experience in the war, the U. S. 
war officials made a rule that henceforth the bugle was not to 
be sounded as a means of transmitting to soldiers the orders of 
their commanders, but, instead, mere motions of the hands would 
be made in perfect silence, according to the Christian Endeavor 
World. 

It was found that the crash of battle often prevented the 
sound of the bugle from reaching all the men in action, and so 
some rushed ahead and others fell back. Besides, the enemy 
knew the bugle-calls and their meaning as well as our own men. 
Every reason, therefore, impelled to the adoption of the silent 
method. 

It is the application of a principle of every-day life. The 
real leader in a movement is seldom conspicuous. He keeps his 
own personality in the background as far as possible and prac- 
ticable. The successful teacher is the quiet one. The effective 
manager or foreman of an establishment is the one who embodies 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS m 

quiet courtesy. Eeal power has no need of noise and bluster. 
If you want to lead others, don't get excited. The self-possessed, 
reserved individual inspires greater loyalty among his followers 
than the noisy egotist. 

EGOTISM 

THE PEIDE OF NEW POWER. 

Sudden honor or riches may turn the head of even some 
sensible persons, but it is sure to beget a sense of superiority 
in the minds of the foolish. During the Russian revolution a 
Bolshevik follower wrote this letter to his wife: 

Mt Geeatlt Respected Wite: — By the grace of God and the will of 
my soldier comrades, the blood of nobility now flows in my veins, because 
I am now father-commander of the whole regiment and of its war chest. 

Yon are not to keep company with the women of the village, but you 
must call on the officers' wives. Do not rush into their homes like a swine, 
but let yourself be announced, to let them know who you are. Your hus- 
band, and at present commander of a regiment, 

Thoma Tebbnttevich. 

THE KAISER'S JIG OUT OUT. 

From all reports, the German Eaiser was a great poser. He 
loved to ** strike an attitude" for his pictures. But even the 
will of the Kaiser was sometimes overruled, as will be seen by 
the following from Tit-Bits of May 4, 1918: 

The belief that the Kaiser is either mad, or on the verge of madness, 
will be confirmed by the account which Carl Ackermann gives of a Ger- 
man moving-picture operator's experience. The film man was ordered to 
Belgium, to follow and photograph His Majesty. At Ostend the ruler asked 
him to prepare to make a special flhn, showing the Kaiser on the beach. 
When all was ready, he danced a jig, waved his baton and then his helmet, 
smDed, shouted greetings to the camera man — and then continued to walk 
on the beach. 

When the photographer reached Berlin and showed the film to the cen- 
sors of the General Staff, they were shocked by the actions of the Kaiser, 
and ordered it cut out of the film. They did not think it advisable to show 
the German people how much their Emperor was "enjoying the war." 



134 STORIES OF THE GREAT IV AR 

EMBLEMS 

COLORS THAT WILL NOT RUN. 

German dyes were famous before the war. Since then some 
one has pointed out another discovery the Germans made — three 
more colors that will not run, when combined; namely, the red, 
white and blue of the American flag. This is partly incorrect. 
The color-bearers with the U. S. troops in France had to run 
in their efforts to keep up with the Germans after the Huns 
gave up their trip to Paris and started back to Berlin. 

WHY HE GAVE UP HIS FLAG. 

Corporal Clifford Lewis, a member of the Fifty-eighth U. S. 
Infantry, wrote a letter to an aunt at Berkeley, California, which 
was received only a few days before he was reported among the 
missing on the western battle-front in France. In this letter 
he said: 

I have kept the little flag you gave me until to-day, and it has pro- 
tected me, as you said it would. When I tell you why I parted with it, I 
think you will not be sorry. A comrade of mine went swimming the other 
night, and was drowned. Your flag is on the cross that marks his grave 
as the grave of a true American. 

AMERICAN FLAG FOR JOAN OF ARC. 

When the Allies won the victory over the Germans, Paris was 
a scene of wildest joy. American soldiers, followed by a huge 
throng, marched to the statues of Strassbourg and Metz and 
placed golden-leaved crowns upon the monuments, to take the 
place of the crepe that had hung on them for forty-seven years. 

But the most dramatic scene of the many enacted at that 
time was that of an American major, who climbed the statue 
of Joan of Arc and placed a huge American flag in her hand. 
As may be imagined, the sight of the famous heroine on her 
steed waving the ** Stars and Stripes" thrilled the thousands who 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS [35 

witnessed it with intense feeling, which found its outlet by long- 
continued cheering. 

BIG DROP IN IRON CROSSES. 

When the war was well under way the Kaiser began giving 
out iron crosses in recognition of special heroism. Then they 
were much prized by their possessors. In the course of a year 
or so, presumably as a- stroke of policy to maintain the loyalty 
of Ms troops, he gave them out ' ' right and left. ' ' Then l;hey 
were not so much prized, because they were becoming too com- 
mon. When the Germans were finally conquered, in November, 
1918, those who had iron crosses wondered what they would do 
with them, and began to dispose of the emblems. Within a few 
weeks thereafter the martet was flooded. The crosses were sold 
for the equal of a cent each in American money. 

Souvenirs of so great a struggle as the wax are usually in 
demand, otherwise the Kaiser's iron crosses, given in recognition 
of the ''prowess" of his ''brave" troops in "gloriously" kill- 
ing women and children, and other like deeds of heroism (?), 
would be dear at a penny apiece. 

SERVICE STAR FOR PERSHING. 

In front of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Cheyenne, Wyo- 
ming, floats a service flag with one bright blue star standing all 
alone, above the rest, in honor of Gen. John Joseph Pershing, 
the Christian commander of the American Expeditionary Forces 
in France. Permission to add this star to the flag was given 
by General Pershing. 

His home address since his marriage in 1905 to Miss Frances 
Warren, daughter of E. F. Warren, United States Senator from 
Wyoming, has been Cheyenne. Mrs. Pershing, it wUl be recalled, 
with her two little daughters, was burned to death in a fire in 
their temporary dwelling at the Presidio, near San Francisco, 
in 1915, while the General was on duty on the Mexican border, 



136 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

their little boy Warren being rescued. It was in this picturesque 
Cheyenne church over which the Pershing star floats that their 
funeral service was held. — Jane A. Stewart, in Christian Endeavoi 
World. 

EQUIPMENT 

MILLION WATCHES IN ONE ORDEE. 

Uncle Sam was determined that his soldiers in France should 
"keep watch" of the Kaiser and his followers, so in one order, 
in 1918, made a contract with Swiss firms for 1,000,000 watches 
for our boys over there. The order was welcomed with joy by 
the Swiss people, for the watch industry there had been in a 
precarious condition for some time, owing to the war situation. 

NO TROUBLE TO SEE THE YANKS. 

Among the spoils of war recovered by American soldiers on 
the western battle-front in France were many pairs of fine 
binoculars, hastily thrown away by the fleeing German officers. 
A y. M. C. A. man was puzzled over this and said to a husky 
fellow in khaki: 

"Why is it that the Germans discard so many costly glasses? 
I can understand why overcoats, heavy revolvers and officers' 
kits are thrown away when there is hard traveling ahead, but 
why discard anything so light in weight and yet so valuable as 
a pair of field glasses?" 

"Listen," said the practical American soldier to whom he 
was speaking. "Those Germans have learned something, they 
have. After going up against us Yanks a couple of times they 
know they ain't going to need any glasses to see us, 'cause 
we are going to be right on top of them. No, sir; when they 
were chasing the Russians all over the map on the east front, 
they had to have glasses to see 'em, but they ain't no guy in 
the Boche army that is so near-sighted he won't see us Americans 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 137 

if he just sticks around. What those fellows figure they need is 
speed, not glasses. And take it from me, that ain't bad figuring, 
either. ' ' 

ITALY'S LARGE PART IN THE WAR. 

When the war had ended and there was no longer need of 
withholding military information, everybody was amazed at the 
magnitude of Italy's part in the gigantic struggle. With a 
population of 36,000,000, she had 5,000,000 men under arms. In 
order to do this, it was necessary to call out all of her older 
classes that could possibly be of service, and then swing to the 
younger ones. All of her nineteen-year-old boys were in the ser- 
■vice a year before hostilities ceased, and many of those of 
eighteen were under arms the last six months. 

BARS FOR AMERICAN SOLDIERS. 

Yes, but not saloon bars nor prison bars — just chocolate bars, 
containing three highly nutritious foods — wheat, nuts and raisins. 
One order contained 1,100,000 chocolate bars for the American 
Red Cross in England, to give out to soldiers. 

Each bar was wrapped in paper stamped with the U. S. flag 
and the Red Cross emblem. A small card inside said the package 
was a well-balanced ration, equal in food value to any one of 
the following: Two lamb chops, two eggs, two plates of clam 
chowder, one big glass of milk, two baked potatoes, three apples, 
two ordinary cups of custard, or two helpings of beans. 

A MILE OF BATTLE-FRONT. 

A mile of battle-front among the swamps of Flanders, with 
its first and second lines of trenches, communications and breast- 
works, required for its protection 6,250,000 sandbags, weighing 
more than 1,000 tons, and nine miles of barbed wire, weighing 
110 tons. In addition, 12,000 six-foot standards, 12,000 small 
pickets, 35,000 running feet of corrugated iron, more than 1,000,- 



138 STORIES OF THE GREAT IV AR 

000 feet of timber and vast quantities of riveting material were 
required. 

Multiply this mile by the scores of other miles that had to be 
prepared in much the same way, and it will at once be seen that 
the task was a stupendous one. 

"A BRIDGE OF SHIPS TO PERSHING." 

This was one of the slogans for America's ship-buUding pro- 
gram during the war. Approximately 400,000,000 feet of yellow 
pine lumber were cut in one period of twelve months, in Amer- 
ican forests, and transported to shipyards on the Atlantic and 
Gulf coasts for the construction of wooden vessels. This quantity 
of timber would be sufficient to construct a bridge floor twenty- 
five feet wide and one inch thick, from the United States to 
France, with 4,000,000 feet to spare. 

Add to this the pine shipped to Pacific coast shipyards, for 
new ships, barges and tugs, the bridge to France could be doubled 
in width, with a sidewalk over three feet wide the entire distance. 

SOLDIERS AND CIGARETTES. 

Daniel A. Poling, associate president of the United Society 
of Christian Endeavor, who spent considerable time in the war 
zone in France, discussed, among other habits of soldiers, upon 
his return to America, that of the use of cigarettes. Speaking 
of the conduct of soldiers in the Y. M. C. A. huts, he said: 

There was very little profanity, no vileness; and some of the men did 
not smoke. I was often surprised by the number who spent no money 
for cigarettes. 

And let us be perfectly frank about the cigarette habit that troubles 
so many of us. That it is a problem I am fully persuaded. Leading 
medical authorities in all armies recognize the fact that the nicotine bond- 
age now fastening upon the men and women of the war-ridden nations 
will be a slavery of heavy chains for the next generation. Giving evidence 
before the city exemption appeal courts in Montreal in January, 1918, Dr. 
G. E. Dube said he was appalled at the amount of illness prevailing among 
men of military age, and that he attributed the trouble chiefly to cigarettes. 

Personally, I have put the cigarette, for the men in the service who use 
it, in the same class with the strychnine the doctor prescribes. There are 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 139 

hundreds of thousands of men in the trenches who would go mad, or at 
least become so nervously inefficient as to be useless, if tobacco were denied 
them. Without it they would surely turn to worse things. 

In many huts Dr. George Fisher's book on tobacco is placed on the 
counter by the side of the cigarettes. The men have here the positive in- 
stmction that at least does them no harm. 

In the educational campaign which will follow the war, those who 
were able to adjust themselves to the x>eculiar needs of this abnormal time 
will have the greater ministry. 

CANARIES HELP WIN THE WAR. 

So far as it was possible, the army ambulance trains and 
hospitals in France were provided with canary birds, in cages. 
It was often noted that a wounded or sick soldier lying on hia 
cot, perhaps in bandages and splints, with eyes closed to every- 
thing about him, would suddenly open his eyes and smile when a 
canary would start its cheerful song. Physicians reported that 
the melody often acted like magic on the sick men. 

The psychological efifect was often marvelous. The prostrate 
men begged the nurses to bring the cages closer, or place them 
beside their cots where they could feed and pet the birds. In 
some instances where a nestful of eggs hatched downy birds 
overnight, they were sure to be well cared for by the big, 
strapping soldiers, more helpless for the time being than the 
little creatures that had just left their shells. 

Canaries were also used in the trenches, where they were 
quick to detect gas and vitiated air before any man was aware 
of its coming, thus giving the alarm in time for the men to 
don their gas-masks before the full force of the gas was at 
hand. The birds would topple over with the first faint smell of 
gas, but would quickly recover by the administration of oxygen. 

PANAMA CANAL IN WARTIME. 

When the United States built the great Panama Canal at a 
cost of $400,000,000, it was considered a stupendous sum, and 
many wondered if it would ever pay. Soon after the world war 
ended, A. F. Pillsbury, an officer of the United States Shipping 



140 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation, made some interesting 
statements concerning the part the canal played in the winning 
of the war. 

The Pacific Coast furnished a large number of ships that 
were needed immediately to carry out the war program of the 
United States, and vast quantities of food from that coast were 
sent quickly through the canal. Tens of thousands of Australian 
troops, from the big island far down in the Pacific, were passed 
through the canal, making their way safely and quickly from 
the Pacific to the Atlantic. 

Ten American ships and seventeen Japanese ships used the 
canal with regular schedules in the transportation of immense 
quantities of supplies that were essential to the progress of the 
war. 

Looking back to the days of 1898, while the war with Spain 
was on, when the "Oregon" made her famous trip around "The 
Horn" -to take part in the battle of Santiago, Cuba, after a 
voyage of several weeks, there appears the contrast of scores of 
destroyers, transports and merchant vessels slipping quietly out 
of San Francisco Bay, and within a few days appearing on the 
Atlantic Coast, ready to carry men, ammunition and supplies 
to the battle-front in France. 

Yes, the Panama Canal came in mighty handy during the 
world war. Every loyal American is now glad that we dug the 
big ditch when we did. 

WONDERS OF WIRELESS IN THE WAR. 

Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of radio telegraphy, called atten- 
tion, in a special newspaper article, to the great part wireless 
telegraphy played in the war. 

"There exists no combination of greater effectiveness for 
reconnoissance purposes and for the all-important function 
of artillery fire-control than that of wireless on aircraft," he 
states. "As a matter of fact, our entire heavy artillery fire is 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 141^ 

conducted by radio communication from aircraft. At the begin- 
ning of the war the observer who accompanied each air pilot 
made careful pictures of the enemy battery emplacements, and 
when the airplane flew back to its own lines these drawings 
were dropped. 

"At the present [closing days of the war], with the wireless 
in operation on the aircraft, the observer simply notes the result 
of the artillery fire of his side, and sends back, by wireless, mes- 
sages which indicate, * Too short, ' ' Three to right, ' ' Two to left, ' 
and so on. The wireless operator who makes the observations 
for fire control is provided with a map of the ground blocked 
off into squares. As he observes the fall of the shells he sends 
back by wireless the number of the square and records a hit or 
gives directions for greater accuracy in the firing of the succeed- 
ing shots. 

**The wireless-equipped seaplane was one of the most valuable 
tools in the hands of the Allies for detecting submarines. Air- 
craft, flying overhead, could trace the path of a submarine below 
the surface, and, by reporting its position by wireless, give to 
near-by merchantmen warning to escape, or to war vessels to 
destroy the undersea craft when possible." 

WAR'S DEMAND FOR COTTON. 

After the great war had been in progress a little over four 
years, it was estimated that absorbent cotton was required at the 
rate of 20,000 bales a year just to staunch and bind the wounds 
of the injured soldiers. 

A machine gun, in operation, uses a bale in three months. A 
twelve-inch gun disposes of half a bale with every shot fired. 
In a naval battle, like the one off Jutland, from five to six 
thousands pounds of cotton are consumed every minute by each 
active warship. * 

One change of apparel for all the troops engaged in war in 
1918 required 1,000^000 bales of cotton. 



142 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 



FArLURE 



FALL OF LUCIFER AKD OF THE KAISEK. 

The New York Tribune, in discussing the fall of the Kaiser, 
by failure to win the war and being forced by his own people to 
abdicate, compared his case to the fall of Lucifer, as recorded 
in Isa. 14 : 9-21 : 

9. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; 
it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it had 
raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 

10. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak 
as we ? Art thou become like unto us ? 

11. Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: 
the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. 

12. How art thou fallen from heaven. Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning I 
How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 

13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I 
will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount 
of the congregation, in the sides of the north. 

14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like tho 
Most High. 

15. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 

16. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider 
thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, and that 
did shake kingdoms; 

17. That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities 
thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners! 

18. All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every 
one in his own house. 

19. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and 
the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go 
down to tho stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. 

20. Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast 
destroyed thy land and slain thy people ; the seed of evil-doers shaU never 
be renowned. 

21. Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; 
that they do not rise nor possess the land, nor all the face of the world 
with cities. 

WHY THE KAISER ABDICATED. 

The Sioux Falls Press, discussing the abdication of the Kaiser, 
truly says it was not consciousness that the Emperor had made 
Germany the foulest criminal nation that ever infested this 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 143 

troubled earth; it was not remorse; it was not a revulsion of 
sentiment against the horrid felonies and hideous doctrines of 
German kultur — ^no reformation of a race prompted the demand 
that the Emperor abdicate. 

He was kicked out in disgrace because he failed to accomplish 
the thing his people expected him to do. He failed to win the 
war, he failed to annex territory belonging to other and better 
people. His subjects could forgive the disgrace, the crime, the 
cruelties, for they themselves gloried in all this so long as the 
German armies were not defeated, but they could not forgive 
the failure of the Kaiser to make good along the grasping, 
unjust, loathsome lines which were expected to win. 

They had no words of regret for the crimes, but only for the 
failure to come out victorious through those atrocities. 

LAST MOMENTS OF KAISERISM. 

The stormy scenes at German Great Headquarters at Spa, 
Belgium, just preceding the forced abdication of the Kaiser 
were tense with excitement for Wilhelm II. 

He was told by his generals that mutiny was widespread 
among the German troops, and that a force was preparing to 
march to Spa from Liege and compel him to abdicate. He could 
not believe it. He questioned the generals very closely, then 
ordered that numerous bodies of troops, upon whose unswerving 
loyalty he had confidently relied, be sent in from the battle-line. 
They were assembled before the Kaiser, and to the troops he 
personally put the question: 

"Do you want your Kaiser, or do you want peace?" 

"Peace!" was the mighty shout as with one voice. 

After a pause of intense suspense, the Kaiser, apparently 
feeling that the critical circumstances portended danger to his 
person, asked the troops: 

"WUl my soldiers afford me protection?" 

The question was not answered by them. 

10 



144 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

This was a great shock to the ruler. The generals then 
explained to him that the soldiers could not be relied upon to 
even afford him protection. 

Finally realizing that his power was gone from him, Wilhelm 
II. consented to abdicate, and immediately began preparations to 
leave. He was soon on his way to Holland, surrounded by a 
strong guard of officers and a few soldiers. 

It was the end of HohenzoUern rule. 

FAITH 

MOTHER'S FAITH IN HER SONS. 

During one of Germany's "peace offensives," which set the 
whole United States discussing the question as to whether or not 
the Kaiser's proposition should receive serious consideration, 
none were more pronounced against such action than the mothers 
of sons fighting the cruel Huns. A San Francisco mother, with 
two sons at the time in France, and a third in an American 
training-camp, said to a reporter: 

"We don't want peace until the Huns are beaten to the 
earth. I would personally be willing to match my three boys 
against the six sons of the Kaiser^ and I know what the outcome 
would be.'* 

A LEAF FROM A SOLDIER'S TESTAMENT. 

One of our American soldiers, who was fatally wounded in 
France, lay on the battlefield seventy hours without food or 
water, and then passed away. A person can only picture in a 
vague sort of a way what his sufferings must have been, from 
wounds, hunger and thirst, but they must have been intense. 

And yet, apparently rising above all this, the soldier's last 
thoughts were evidently the thoughts of faith in God, for in hia 
lifeless hand was found his little Testament, open, as though 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 145 

he had been reading, and these were the words near where his 
hand pressed — 2 Tim. 4: 6-8: 

"For I am already being offered, and tlie time of my departure is come. 
I have fought the g-ood fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the 
faith. Henceforth tliere is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, 
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not 
to me only, but also to aU them that love his appearing." 

The leaf bearing the words was torn from the Testament 
and sent to his mother in America, that she might know her 
soldier boy died in the faith of the home from whence he had 
gone to help bring the world up to the ideals of Christian life 
and teaching. 

FAITHFULNESS , 

DOG TRIES TO JOIN ARMY. 

The pet dog of Mrs. J. W. Newborn, of Portland, Oregon, 
made two attempts to join the colors of Uncle Sam, but failed. 
The first time he followed a soldier to Vancouver barracks. The 
next day "Buster" (that's his name) was returned to his mis- 
tress. A few days later ho followed another soldier, but was 
again brought back to his home. 

It was supposed that something about the uniform of a sol- 
dier appealed to him. No red-blooded American would blame 
him for that^ for we're all the same. 

PERSHING'S ONE AMBITION. 

James F. Pershing, brother of Gen. John J. Pershing, ia 
charge of the American Expeditionary Forces during the war, 
while making speeches in the interests of the fourth Liberty 
Loan, said in answer to a question: 

"General Pershing has no Presidential ambitions and does 
not want his name mixed up in politics. He has never voted, 
because he has been so constantly shifted about in the course 
of his army duties that he has seldom been in one place long 



146 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

enough to vote. His business is the success of the American 
arms. That alone occupies his attention." 

Every one will agree that he has certainly made good in that 
regard in a most praiseworthy manner. The name of Gen. John 
J. Pershing will go down in honorable history to be remembered 
long after the names of many national rulers have been for- 
gotten. 

FAITHFULNESS OF WAR HORSES. 

It has been estimated that nearly 5,000,000 horses took part 
in the war in one way or another, and equine casualties were 
often as high as 50,000 a month. 

The faithfulness of the dumb creatures was a constant source 
of marvel to men associated with them in the awful task. A 
man in the Royal Field Artillery, who had been driving his 
horses for three years, was one day separated from them by 
the crashing of a shell in the midst of the section with which 
he was moving. 

His gun was wrecked and the driver immediately in front of 
him was blown to bits. As he mounted a fresh horse, he turned 
and saw his two horses struggling and kicking on the ground to 
free themselves, but was unable to go back and help them. A 
Frenchman dashed up and cut the traces, and although their 
driver was by this time a long distance ahead, they galloped 
after him, and followed him for four days, keeping their places 
in the line like trained soldiers. 

After the iierce fighting at Loos a horse was seen standing 
between the firing-lines. For two whole days he remained there, 
when one of the Coldstream Guards went out to him and found 
that he was standing by the dead body of his rider, the horse 
himself unharmed ! It was with difficulty the animal was induced 
to leave the spot, and only by blindfolding him could he be 
persuaded to part from his dead master and return to the 
British lines. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 147 

A cavalry officer, who was in a hospital recovering from shell- 
shock, loaned his steed, a faithful mare, which he pronounced 
"as brave and strong as a lion, yet as mild and obedient as a 
lamb," to a brother officer. One day, passing along a certain 
road, the animal began trembling, snorted, and refused to go a 
step farther, until he applied the spurs. Passtug on, she soon 
became normal. A few days later, going over the same road 
again, the mare had another nervous fit at the same spot. He 
could not understand it, for at all other times her conduct was 
ideal. He went to the owner, lying on his bed at the hospital, 
and then the mystery was solved. 

*'Poor Dolly!" said the man, tenderly; **it was at the place 
you describe that the shell fell which laid me up. She evidently 
remembers it as keenly as I do." 

This incident shows that horses have good memories, as well 
as a strong attachment for their masters. 

Many instances have been related in which horses endeavored 
to save their wounded riders who had fallen, by lifting them 
carefully with their teeth and helping to drag them to a place 
of safety. 

FATE 

"THE KING WILL TELL US WHITHER." 

A great German newspaper, early in the war, published a 
picture of gallopiug soldiers, with these words underneath: 

"We are riding again; the King will tell us whither." 

That was the spirit of the monarchy-ruled nation — ^that the 
people would blindly go whither the ruler indicated, whether the 
king led wisely or wickedly. 

As the war progressed and the king business was getting 
shaky. Emperor Karl, of Austria-Hungary, said to Kaiser WU- 
helm of Germany: 

"We kings must stick together." 



148 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

But the people decided they would stick together and fight 
together. The kings were toppled over into rubbish heaps, no 
longer considered necessary. 

The Kaiser, not able to tell his people whither they could 
ride, himself rode into exUe and disgrace. As if in the twinkling 
of an eye, he was transformed from the ruler of a great nation 
to an outcast at whom the boys of HoUand yelled ' * Boo ! ' ' when 
he landed at one of their depots. 

KAISER'S BELLS TOLL HIS DOWNFALL, 

When the news of the surrender of Germany reached Jeru- 
salem, the huge bells over the German hotel on the Mount of 
Olives were tolled, their clear tones ringing out over the valleys 
and into the surrounding country, thus giving the first intimation 
to many citizens of the Holy Land of the downfall of the Kaiser. 

This is another instance showing the strange ways of fate. 
When the Kaiser visited Jerusalem, with great pomp and cere- 
mony, he personally superintended the hanging of the bells, on 
each of which was inscribed his own name. 

FATE OF THE WICKED RULERS. 

The four rulers of the Central Powers who joined hands in 
the war of greed and cruelty, which began in 1914, either died 
or lost their thrones before the war came to an end, except 
the Kaiser of Germany, who was forced to abdicate at almost 
the last moment before the armistice was signed. Emperor 
Francis Joseph, of Austria-Hungary, and the Sultan of Turkey 
died. King Ferdinand, of Bulgaria, abdicated, to be succeeded 
by his son, who gave up the throne when the peasantry revolted 
against him. 

When the Kaiser abdicated and fled to Holland, an American 
newspaper, in commenting upon the incident, said: 

"What a position for the 'invincible' war lord of Europe — 
hiding behind a woman's skirts! [the queen of Holland]. Is 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 149 

the tyrant a coward too? If he isn't, why doesn't he face the 
music?'* 

THE MULE'S PUNISHMENT. 

An American soldier was directed to haul water for a certain 
purpose, while in France. His outfit was a mule, a cart and a 
big barrel. AU went well until he had succeeded in getting up 
to where the shells were falling pretty thick, when the mule 
balked. The soldier, astride the barrel, told the animal what 
he thought of him, and still the long-eared creature did not 
budge. When the driver's patience had just about reached the 
limit, a shell came singing over and hit the balky mule, literally 
shattering the body to bits, except the head, which was thrown 
several yards up the road, and the hind legs and hips, still 
hitched to the cart. 

The driver was thrown off from his seat on the barrel, but 
was unhurt. To a shaking comrade who appeared on the scene, 
he said in disgust as he wiped the mule from his face: 

** That's what the blamed thing gets for balking 1" 

THE HAPSBUEG ''CUESE" FULFILLED. 

In the vast field of operations of the great war, no one 
feature stands out more tragic and dramatic than that of the 
fulfillment of the curse pronounced upon the Austrian house of 
Hapsburg by the Countess Karolyi, in 1848. 

In that year, when the young Emperor, Francis Joseph, of 
Austria, then eighteen years of age, was suppressing, with ter- 
rible cruelties, the Hungarian rebellion, the countess uttered this 
curse upon him: 

^'May Heaven and Hell blast his happiness! May his family 
be exterminated! May he be smitten in the persons he loves! 
May his life be wrecked and his children brought to ruin ! ' ' 

Although he lived sixty-eight years after the curse was uttered, 
his long life and reign was made up of uninterrupted disaster 



150 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

and disgrace. His own life went out in 1916, with his country 
torn and suffering with untold hardships, as an ally of Germany 
in the great war. His successor, Emperor Charles, was driven 
from his throne in 1918, at the close of the war, with the king- 
dom disrupted and the people starving. 

Among the many tragedies that came to those near and dear 
to the one upon whom the curse was pronounced may be men- 
tioned the following: 

His only son, Crown Prince Rudolph, a suicide near Vienna, 
in 1889. 

His brother, Archduke Maximilian, executed in Mexico, 1887. 

The latter 's wife, Marie Charlotte, hopelessly insane. 

The Emperor's cousin. King Ludwig, of Bavaria, committed 
suicide while insane, in 1886. King Otto, brother of Ludwig, also 
died while insane. 

The Emperor's wife. Empress Elizabeth, murdered by an 
anarchist at Geneva, 1897. Princess Sophie, Duchess of Alencon, 
sister of the Empress, burned to death in Paris the same year. 
Prince Louis, brother-in-law of Empress Elizabeth, in a fit of 
despondency, committed suicide. 

Archduke John of Austria, cousin of the Emperor, lost at sea. 

Archduchess Matilda, another cousin, burned to death. 

A granddaughter shot her rival. 

Archduke Ladislas killed while hunting. 

And the tragedy which Germany seized upon as the pretext, 
joined in by Austria, for starting the great world war, was the 
assassination, on June 28, 1914, of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, 
nephew and heir of Francis Joseph, and his wife. 

While the above are the principal tragedies in the life of the 
Emperor who began his reign with cruelties to his rebellious sub- 
jects, there are many more of a minor nature. It would seem 
that the late Emperor Francis Joseph could say with the late 
Czar Nicholas of Russia: 

"When have I known a day of happiness?" 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 151 

FRIENDSHIP 

HOMESICKNESS OF WAR HORSES. 

An army ofldcer, showing a visitor the arrangements for caring 
for the thousands of horses assembled at Camp Funston, pre- 
paratory to being shipped to France for war duty, called atten- 
tion to a certain animal in a stall in one of the big barns. 

"See that horse f he asked. "Won't eat, won't drink. 
Just stands there and pines and mopes, head down. Not a thing 
in the world wrong with it. Temperature is perfectly normal. 
Yet that horse has lost three hundred pounds." 

"A case of homesickness?" inquired the visitor. 

"That's exactly it. He's so down in the mouth he doesn't 
care whether school keeps or not. We've been keeping him under 
observation. Sometimes they die of it. As soon as he gets back 
in the corral there's a chance he will get over it if he picks up 
with a mate. Horses are just like men. They get acquainted 
out in the corral and they make friends. Let two or three come 
in from the same farm and they stick together like brothers. 
Two lonesome animals strike up a friendship, and they are insep- 
arable. ' ' 

The visitor was also shown the hospital, where the sick horses 
were being tenderly cared for. The men in charge all spoke in 
gentle tones, as do persons in the room of a sick friend. One 
magnificent bay mare fell into the death struggle, and a little 
knot of men in khaki stopped all work and stood around until 
the end — and they stood silently. When the last breath had gone 
from the body of the poor dumb creature, the lieutenant spoke 
as if he were consoling some one: 

"We have been expecting it for the last twenty-four hours." 

Then the men turned again to their tasks, and the visitor 
was grateful for the opportunity afforded in demonstration of 
the care our Government provided for the dumb creatures drafted 



152 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

for war service, even as it cared for tlie millions of boys called 
from their homes to serve humanity. 

A DYING SOLDIER'S REQUEST. 

Lieut. W. G. Hamilton, with the Canadian army for three 
years in France, gives a touch of the way friendships spring up 
in army life, in the following: 

There was in my battalion a little chap named Britton. He was a 
wonderful boy, fine and brave and lovable. At night, when we were sleep- 
ing out in the mud and the rain, he used to snuggle up close to me, like a 
child with a big brother; and I got to love him more than I can put into 
words. He had as much courage as any man in the company, and yet he 
was such a little chap. In spite of his daring, he was the kind of a boy 
you wanted to loofe. out for. 

Then, one night, we were going forward in an attack. The Germans 
were enfilading our lines with a machine gun, and every step of the way 
we were losing men. All of a sudden I came on Britton, lying on the 
ground, and I stopped, I wouldn't have done it had it been any one else, 
but he was different. As I stooped down he said, "I am done for." I 
knelt beside him and put my arm under his head, and he said brokenly, 
for he was mortally wounded: "Tell them I did my best — I tried to — do 
my best. And please take — ^what's in my pocket — to — " He gave me the 
name and address of his sweetheart at home. I promised him I would, 
and then he gasped: "Bend down. I want you — to give her — something 
else." I bent close to him — and he kissed met 

He died there in my arms. And perhaps you would think that experi- 
ences like that would make us hate war and everything connected with it. 
We do hate war. But we who have been in it are the last ones to hate 
"everything connected with it." For we have seen too much that is fine 
and splendid come out of the dreadfulness of war. I believe that the men 
who have been fighting together in the trenches have more faith in human 
nature and more pride in their fellow-men than anybody else in the world. 
The ofiicers, for example, who have been with the men on the fighting-lines, 
are as proud of them as a mother is of her sons. 

THE STORY OF VERDTJN BELLE. 

The devotion of a dog to a human friend has been strikingly 
proven many times, but it remained for the war to bring forth 
one of the most touching incidents on record. The story was 
told by Stars and Stripes, official paper for the American Expe- 
ditionary Forces in France: 

One day a common setter dog appeared among the American 
Marines fighting near Verdun. No one knew where she came 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS [53 

from, so a soldier named her "Verdun Belle," and was kind 
to her. She returned the friendship in every way it was possible 
for a dog to do, and the man and dog were inseparable, until 
one day she became the mother of seven brovm-and-white puppies. 
Their eyes were hardly open before orders came for the regiment 
to which her adopted friend belonged to move to another sector. 

Some might have thought the dog and her puppies would be 
left behind, but not so her new master. Obtaining a market- 
basket, he placed the seven little bits of flesh and hair in it, 
and Verdun Belle followed lovingly behind, serene, and confident 
that all was well with her little family. 

Forty mUes the Marine carried this load, in the heat of the 
march, in addition to his already heavy pack, when an order 
came to go stni farther. He was forced to give up the basket. 
With a sad heart he killed four of the pups to make sure they 
would not be starved or neglected, and slipped the other three 
in his shirt-front. On and on he tramped with his comrades, 
aJid one day the mother dog was missing — ^had evidently been 
lost in the crowd and dropped behind. Having no food the pup- 
pies could eat, he turned them over to an ambulance corps pass- 
ing back from the front. 

As they were driving toward their post, wondering how they 
could feed the little creatures, they saw a mother dog by the 
roadside, and, strange to relate, it proved to be Vurdun Belle. 
She went into ecstasies when the pups were placed with her, and 
together they made their home at a field hospital. 

A short time after, another strange thing happened. Her 
master, who had been wounded in the fierce fighting at the front, 
was brought to that very hospital. He had wondered how the 
three little pets were getting along without their mother, and 
where she was all this time. 

While the men were waiting in turn for their wounds to be 
dressed, the attendants noticed ,a dog slip in and commence 



154 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

sniffing the air as if in search of something. Before any ono 
had time to protest, Verdun Belle found the cot on which her 
master lay. He was lying with his eyes closed, when he felt a 
tongue on his cheek. She was licking the dust from his pained 
and battle-smeared face. It was indeed a happy reunion for both 
dog and man. 

When the nurses heard the remarkable story from the Marine, 
they brought another cot, placing it close by the side of the 
wounded man, and on this Verdim BeUe and her three little 
puppies were allowed to make themselves at home. It was no 
uncommon thing for those who passed through the hospital to 
see the mother dog and her babies being fondled by the wounded 
man who had been so kind to them, reaching over with one hand 
to pet them as he lay prostrate from his injuries. 

When he had improved sufficiently to be removed to the base 
hospital, he requested that his four dumb friends be permitted 
to go there with him. So strong had the attachment become 
that the request was readily granted. Verdun Belle and her 
happy family would no more think of deserting their master 
than he would of deserting them. 

GREED 

WHEN THE KAISER ENTERED JERUSALEM. 

Turkey's unconditional surrender to the allied forces, in 
October, 1918, was just twenty years, almost to the day, from 
the time when the Kaiser, Emperor Wilhelm of Germany, dra- 
matically and ostentatiously entered the Holy City in the costume 
of a Knight of St. John. On this memorable occasion the 
Kaiser pledged his protection to the Sultan of Turkey, and 
asserted that the German Government was in a position to afford 
its friends "broad and effective protection." 

It was also on this journey, made in all the splendor and 
outward impressiveness that money could provide, with many 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 155 

attendants, that the Kaiser's dreams of the "Berlin to Bagdad" 
empire flowered full. 

How the mighty have fallen! The words in Proverbs that 
"pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a 
fall," literally came true in the case of the German Emperor. 

GERMAN GIRL'S VIEW OF WAR. 

A remarkable letter has been printed in the Congressional 
Record at Washington, showing that there was such a thing 
as a Prussian spirit among the common people of Germany. 
The letter, from which the following are extracts, was written 
by a Prussian girl to a friend in Switzerland, and was dated 
Frankfort on Oder, July 20, 1916: 

My Dbae Louise: — Your last letter -would have hurt me had I not 
known that your thoughts of our glorious war resulted from sheer igno- 
rance. You are in a country rendered effeminate by the influence of old- 
fashioned ideas of liberty, a country at least two centuries behind ours. 

It is evident that you, a Swiss girl, with your French sympathies, can 
not understand how my heart passionately desired this war. Some years 
ago, my father said to us: "Children, Germany is getting too small; wo 
shall have to go to France again to find more room." Is it our fault if 
France will not understand that more money and land are necessary for us * 

And you reproach us that our soldiers have been very cruel to the Bel- 
gian rabble, and you speak of the destruction of Rheims, and of the burn- 
ing of villages and towns. Well, that is war. As in every other under- 
taking, we are past masters in the making of war. 

You have a great deal to learn before you can come up to our standard, 
and I can assure you that what has been done so far is a mere bagatelle 
compared with what will follow. 

As a matter of fact, there is but one race worthy of ruling the world, 
and which has already attained the highest degree of civilization. That 
race is ours, the Prussian, for though we Germans in general are the 
lords of the world, the Prussian is undoubtedly the lord par excellence 
among the Germans. 

All other nations, and among them, unfortunately, the Swiss, are degen- 
erate and of inferior worth. That is why I have always been so proud 
of being a true Prussian. 

Nothing except the complete victory which the Allies won 
over the Germans could ever have stamped out such a monstrous 
spirit among the common people of a nation as is revealed in 
the above letter. It was the wicked, proud spirit of rule or ruin. 



156 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

THE KAISER A PEOFITEEK. 

Emperor William of Germany was a large shareholder in the 
Krupp gun-works of Essen before the war began, and, after 
hostilities started, increased his shares by $25,000,000. 

As king- of Prussia he was allowed a civil list of $4,250,000 
a year. His grandfather left him $12,000,000. He was the 
greatest landowner in Germany before his enforced abdication. 
He had 110 palaces, gorgeously furnished. When he traveled on 
his magnrficently equipped train it cost him $50 per mile. 

HELPFULNESS 

THE SURGEON AND THE SECRETARY. 

A soldier who had been terribly wounded was taken to a 
hospital in France. After the surgeon had done everything 
within his power for him, he remarked to a Y. M. C. A. secretary: 

"Here's a case for you. The man hasn't one chance in a 
thousand to live." 

When the "Y" worker approached and bent over the suffer- 
ing soldier, the wounded one said: 

"I have made a mess of life; enlisted under a false name, 
and all that. I'd better end it right here." 

"Better hegi/n it right here," said the secretary, cheerily. 

The prostrate man looked up pitifully, with a ray of hope. 
After a little conversation he decided to take the other's advice. 
He began to improve. Six weeks later he was up, and became 
an active, enthusiastic Christian worker. 

The surgeon said to the secretary: 

"It was you, not me, that saved him." 

LARGEST HOSPITAL IN THE WORLD. 

Before the war it was thought the activities of the world 
had reached a very large scale. We were used to big things then, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 157 

but with the coming of the monster programs necessary for the 
prosecution of the greatest war in history, it was inevitable that 
other things must be in proportion. In the days of peace a 
hospital with 1,000 beds was cause for wonder, but this was 
eclipsed many times when the great war hospital was opened 
at La Guich, France, with 22,000 beds. It is a sad reflection 
that even this was not large enough at times to meet the 
demands. 

PROTECTING SOLDIERS FROM THEMSELVES. 

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., told of a man in uniform approach- 
ing New York on a ferry-boat from Jersey City, who said to a 
girl standing near by: 

"Hello, Cuteyl Where are you going?" 

Then, noticing a little badge she wore, he asked what it 
signified. 

"That shows that I am a member of the Patriotic League," 
she replied earnestly. 

"And what kind of an organization is that?" continued the 
soldier. 

"It's a society which we girls have got up to make New 
York safe for men like you," she said with the same sweet 
earnestness. 

That tells much in a single sentence. 

SIGNS FOR WOUNDED SOLDIERS. 

The Red Cross workers in France furnished the army with 
thousands of small cloth signs, bearing a red cross and an arrow 
to indicate directions, by which wounded soldiers could find their 
way back to the nearest dressing-station. The Red Cross markers 
followed each advance, tacking the signs to trees, posts or any 
conspicuous object. This plan enabled wounded men to be cared 
for much sooner than would otherwise have been possible. Before 
it was adopted it was no uncommon thing for injured soldiers 



156 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

to become lost and wander about for hours before finding a 
place, or being found, to have their wounds dressed. 

HOME TIES 

THEEE WOMEN FOR ONE SOLDIER. 

Two girls in a large banking office in San Francisco were 
soliciting subscriptions for the fourth Liberty Loan drive, when 
one of them said: 

"My brother is over there," and the other one said: 

"My sweetheart is over there.'' 

In the booth sat a mother, who quietly said: 

"My son is over there." 

They were all speaking of the same boy, and were mighty 
proud of him too. 

"A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM." 

A troop-train was standing in a certain station awaiting 
orders, says Trench and Camp, published at Camp Gordon, 
Georgia, with the soldiers leaning out of car windows, cheering, 
singing, chatting with little groups of bystanders, when the 
Y. M. C. A. secretary who belonged to the train, and was out 
on the station platform, observed a soldier endeavoring to attract 
the attention of a young mother who was standing not far away 
with a babe in her arms. 

The secretary approached him and asked what he wanted. 

"I want to talk to that woman over there with the baby," 
he replied. 

The "Y" man hastily glanced at the face of the man in 
khaki and was satisfied with the expression, so walked over 
to the woman and asked if she would grant the soldier's request. 
She gladly did so, and this is what he said to her: 

"Lady, I have a little baby about the age of yours. I 
wanted so much to get home and see him once more, but I 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 159 

couldn't. Would you mind my taking yours and kissing it? 
Life over there, I imagine, may be pretty tempting, and as a 
father I want to go across with a baby's kiss on my lips." 

The mother lifted up her child to the soldier, who placed its 
wee arms about his neck, then folded it in his great, muscular 
arms, and, amid the din and gaiety of the hundreds of soldiers 
on the train, he kissed it lovingly with the tenderness of a 
strong, true man. 

After he had given the baby back to its mother, she then 
took the soldier's face between her hands, kissed him on the 
forehead, and said: 

"God bless you! My baby's father is over there!" 

FRENCH ADOPT AMERICAN WORD. 

Before the going of such a large number of American soldiers 
overseas, the French people had no word for "home," in the 
sense used by the English-speaking world. The French spoke 
of their dwelling-place as "la maison," meaning "house," 
which might be applied to a store, a butcher-shop or a bar-room. 

With hundreds of thousands of American soldiers over there 
during the war, all talking so tenderly about "home," how they 
loved their "homes," and the "home folks," and the "home 
fires," the French began calling their places of abode by the 
same name. 

Truly, "be it ever 80 humble, there's no place like home." 

SENDING SMILES TO THE SOLDIERS. 

One influence of the war in America was the development of 
the idea of sending moving pictures of home scenes to our boys 
in France and other foreign countries. In cities where the plan 
was carried out on a large scale the people turned out by the 
thousands and marched in front of the camera. 

Relatives of boys "over there" were particularly invited to 
pass along in front of the moving-picture machine, smile and 
11 



160 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

wave a greeting, with the hope that their particular soldier 
would see, in the scenes thrown upon the screen far away from 
home, his father, mother, sweetheart, sister, brother or other 
relatives and friends. All sorts of comic features were also 
fixed up that would aid in bringing smiles to the faces of "our 
boys." Many signs with large letters were carried, and showed 
up in the pictures in good shape, such as" "Hello, BiUl" 
"Howdy, Jack?" "AU's well at home." 

THOUGHT OF THEIR WIVES. 

Rev. Frederick E. Taylor, religious work director of the 
Central Department of the Y. M. C. A., tells of two incidents 
occurring at Ft. Leavenworth, where he addressed large numbers 
of soldiers in training for service overseas. 

At the close of one meeting a man of about forty came to 
him, upon learning he was from Indianapolis, where the man 
also resided. It developed that he lived only a short distance 
from Mr. Taylor's church. He said he had been a drinking 
man, and in the meeting had accepted Christ and believed he 
would be true. 

"But," he said, "my wife has lost confidence in me; if I 
write and tell what I have done, she won't believe I mean it. 
Won't you go and teU her you have seen me and that I am 
aU right?" 

The minister promised he would do so or send one of his 
assistants. The home was visited and the wife was rejoiced to 
hear that her husband was living the Christian life. 

At another meeting Mr. Taylor had an experience quite the 
reverse. A tall, well-built young man in khaki said to him: 

"I am going overseas in a few days and am glad to go. I 
want to fight in this war. I am a Christian and have no fear 
if I should be killed, or of my salvation, but" — here he choked 
and the big tears rolled down his face — "my wife is not a 
Christian. She is good as gold, but she doesn't know Christ as 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 1611 

her Saviour. If I could go away knowing that she had found 
Christ, I would be the happiest man in camp," 

The minister talked it over with him, and said he knew a 
good minister in the town where the soldier and his wife lived 
to whom he would send a request to see the wife concerning the 
matter. Then they prayed together about it. As they walked 
out and parted, the soldier said hopefully: 

"I believe it will be all right." 

REMAERIED TO PLEASE THE BOYS. 

Gustave Puis and Mrs. Augusta Puis, who had been divorced 
three years, appeared at the court-house at St. Paul, Minnesota, 
where they were remarried by the court commissioner, in October, 
1918. They explained that they felt they should do so for the 
sake of two sons, who were then with the TJ. S. army in France. 

"We know this will make our soldier boys a lot happier," 
said Mr. Puis, "and they can now go on fighting with the 
feeling that they need not worry about their parents." 

SNAP-SHOTS CHEER SOLDIER BOYS. 

Next to letters from home to cheer up the men in uniform, 
were snap-shots of scenes familiar to them. When the mail 
would be distributed among the American troops in France, the 
letters in which were enclosed some pictures were the ones 
which brought the most cheer — ^not only to the ones receiving 
them, but to others as well, for it is as natural as breathing to 
show pictures to your friends. 

Here is a typical case, witnessed by a war correspondent: 

"Say, I'm so happy I coiild almost reach up and touch the skyl" ex- 
claimed a doughboy who had just received a letter containing five snap- 
shots. 

"Pretty nice, aren't they?" he continued, showing them around. "See 
this one? It's my girl. She's the best girl going. She sends me snap-shots 
every couple of weeks of the folks and things at home. 

"This is another picture of her, taken in her front yard, under the trees. 
I know that spot I Gael That's where I proposed to her, and it was Sua- 



162 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

day afternoon. She couldn't see it my way at first, but I won out after 
a bit. It is sure wonderful what pictures bring back to you, isn't it?" 

Then, fondly holding up another, he went on: 

"This picture's of my mother, and it's a good one. She looks pretty 
well. I was afraid she was worrying too much. I feel a lot better now. 
I know she's telling the truth when she writes that she was well. Photos 
are great, aren't they? 

"And here's one of my sister and her baby. I'm tickled to get this, 
you bet. It's the only way I have of telling what kind of a brat I'm 
uncle to, you see, for I've never seen it. 

"Snap-shots sure make you feel close to the folks back home." 

HONOR 

MOEE THAN A HUNDRED WOUNDS. 

Cavaliere Antonio Mango, of the famous Sassari brigade 
from Sardinia, had the distinction of bearing more wounds upon 
his body than any other soldier in the Italian army. They num- 
bered a hundred and one, many of them received in the great 
world war, and some in previous wars. He was awarded many 
medals for bravery and distinguished service, his decorations 
including official recognition from all the principal allied Gov- 
ernments. 

"HANG THESE KINGS!" SAID T. E. 

Col. Theodore Roosevelt, a good example of American democ- 
racy, uttered an expression in 1910 which very nearly came true 
in a number of instances in the closing days of the great war. 

It was just before the funeral of King Edward VII., when 
London was full of living kings and other rulers, who had come 
from far and near to be present at the burial of England's 
king. One after another the great sovereigns of the earth broke 
all the rules of royalty by calling in person at Dorchester House, 
where Roosevelt was stopping, and visiting with him, so Boy's 
Life states, on the authority of Hermann Hagedorn. 

The former President of the United States and world traveler 
and hunter was working hard to catch up with a heavy corre- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS f63 

spondenee, but didn't have the heart to refuse the requests for 
a little of his time. Finally he exclaimed, when a flustered foot- 
man announced another sovereign: 

' ' Hang these kings ! I wish they would leave me alone I ' ' 
Among the many who called on Roosevelt at that time was 
the Kaiser, the later deposed emperor of Germany. 

OUR ''WOMEN-TAUGHT" BOYS. 

Before the United States entered the war, a German officer 
declared with great confidence that America could never make 
a fighting army of its young men, "because they had been 
taught by women in the schools." The following poem by Jessie 
Pryse Arthur relates in rhyme an incident of Kipling and King 
George of England viewing together a parade of American sol- 
diers marching through London: 

"Women-tauglit," the poet made comment, 
As down the line his earnest g'aze was bent 
Upon the boyish faces, all intent 
Upon the task for which they had been sent. 
Amid OTir tears and cheers across the sea, 
To make the world a safer place to be. 

"Women-taugrht," the virile poet said, 
And at his words the m.onarch bared his head, 
As passed the Yankee lads with measured tread; 
For in their faces, too, the king had read 
Their clean, young hearts, their boyish purity, 
And honored thus their teachers o'er the sea. 

"Women-taught" — to know democracy; 
"Women-taught" — to cherish liberty. 

To honor womankind and purity, 

To give their lives to save humanity. 
"Women-taught," the virile poet said; 
"Women-taught," the monarch bared his head. 

OUR FIRST FLAG ON GERMAN SOIL. 

The honor of bearing the first American flag that ever 
floated over German soU belongs to Color Sergt. Guy M. None- 
macher, of Elmira, New York. That was before the end of 
the war was in sight. He was at the head of the United States 



164 STORIES OF THE GREAT IVAR 

troops first entering Alsace-Lorraine. For winning sueh an 
honor, he was made a lieutenant. He enlisted as a private in 
June, 1917. He advanced rapidly from the first, his heart and 
soul being in the cause of Uncle Sam. 

CHINESE BOY RECEIVES MEDAL. 

Sing Kee, of San Jose, California, twenty years of age, fight- 
ing with the American troops in France, received a distinguished 
service cross, for extraordinary heroism in action during one of 
the big battles. 

When the good news reached his mother in her humble home 
in San Jose, she crooned over it and joyfully declared: 

"Sing Kee fine boy. He hear Uncle Sam caU and go 'list. 
I feel happy. China boy good fighter, make German run." 

WHEN THE WAR BEGAN. 

Two women in England were conversing concerning the impor- 
tance each attached to the part her son had in the great war, 
when one said: 

"Our Joe is getting along fine with his drill. Why, he writes 
me that sometimes in their drills every one in the regiment is 
out of step but him." 

"That's nothing," replied the other; "when our Harry went 
out to the front in 1914, the captain shouted: 'Is Private Harry 
Johnson in the ranks?' 'Yes,' says somebody. 'Then let the 
war begin! ' said the captain, and they all started off as confident 
as you please I ' ' 

HOSPITALITY 

GERMAN SURRENDERS ON BIRTHDAY. 

Damon Runyon, a war correspondent in France, told of a 
German ofl&cer surrendering to Lieutenant Reardon, of the Seventy- 
seventh New York Division, remarking as he gave himself up: 



^ FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 165 

"Gentlemen, it's my birthday, and I am bringing some of 
my friends to take dinner with you." 

Sure enough, as he spoke, using perfect English, thirty Ger- 
man soldiers popped out of the brush behind him. The officer 
and his men were all smiling, notwithstanding they had only a 
few moments before been making a brisk fight against their 
captors. 

At first it seemed like a joke, but it developed that it was 
really the officer's birthday. He and his men got a good birth- 
day dinner with the Americans, "according to plan." 

ONE THING THAT WAS OVERDONE. 

During strenuous wartimes loyal citizens are anxious to do 
what they can for the comfort and convenience of the men in 
uniform, who are ready to make any sacrifice demanded of them. 

One practice was so much overdone during the great war, 
however, that the men in the service themselves were the most 
outspoken in regard to it, and that was the giving of tobacco to 
soldiers. This was carried to such an extreme in some places 
that a stranger to this planet might have been excused for believ- 
ing that tobacco was the main sustenance of the U. S. army and 
navy men. 

The extreme to which this was carried was related by Karl 
Lehmann, Southern States secretary of the United Society of 
Christian Endeavor. He states that on the platform of one 
railway station, a bright young fellow in khaki from a Chris- 
tian Endeavor society up North said: 

"This train has stopped at nineteen stations where Red Crosa 
canteen workers have served us, and this is what I have received 
from their hands: Fourteen cigarettes, three post-cards, two small 
helpings of candy, and one sandwich. 

"I have never smoked cigarettes, and I don't intend to start 
now. It seems to me that the mothers, wives, sisters, sweethearts 
and friends of the men in uniform could be in better business 



166 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

than shoving out cigarettes at every fellow who steps from a 
troop-train. ' ' 

In contrast vsdth this, Mr. Lehmann mentions the reception 
given to a troop-train at Greensboro, North Carolina. At this 
station the women served the men home-fried chicken, sand- 
wiches, pimento-cheese sandwiches, cookies, cake, pie, apples, 
candy and hot coffee. Not a cigarette was handed out, so far as 
he saw. In commenting upon the incident the secretary said: 

"If the good women of Greensboro could have heard the 
appreciative remarks of those boys in uniform as the train sped 
on, they would have felt more than repaid for their effort and 
service. ' ' 

Certainly it speaks much better for a town to be remembered 
as a place where so many nourishing and appetizing things were 
served than simply "one of the towns where we were given 
cigarettes"! 

HTJMILIATION 

WHEN PERSHING TAUGHT SCHOOL. 

Here is an incident in General Pershing's days of youth 
which helps us to understand his success in leading the American 
armies in France. 

When he was eighteen he taught his first school — at Prairie 
Mound, near Laclede, Missouri, where he was born. In the 
course of the term it became his duty to thrash a big boy by 
the name of Card, which he did in his usual thorough fashion. 

The discipline conquered the boy, but brought the boy's 
father to the schoolhouse in an angry mood. The man was about 
six feet four in height, and fully determined to lick the teacher. 
John endeavored to reason with him, but Card would not listen 
to reason. Instead, he was preparing to carry out his threat. 
Then it was that John's characteristic determination to stand 
for his rights came out. Stepping toward the big man, he said 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 167 

with a cold precision that left no room for doubt as to what 
he meant: 

"You get out of this house and off these grounds, and stay 
off as long as I am teacher, or I'll kill you I " 

With mumbled apologies, old man Card hastily backed out 
of the schoolhouse, much humiliated, and never again troubled 
the young teacher, John Pershing. 

F. S. SOLCIER ''REDUCED" GERMAN OFFICER. 

One of Uncle Sam's truck-drivers in France had a lively 
experience with a proud German officer, who had been taken 
prisoner during the fighting on the Chateau- Thierry front. 

He had driven up with a big load of supplies and ammuni- 
tion, and was directed to take back with him a load of prisoners. 
A German captain, member of one of the famous Hun regiments, 
was among the prisoners assigned to ride back in the truck. 
The prisoners had climbed in good-naturedly, when the driver 
noticed that the captain had made no move to do so. 

"Climb in there!" he ordered the officer. 

"Look at my uniform! Don't you recognize that I am a 
captain?" replied the man. "You don't expect me to ride with 
them," indicating the German soldiers on the truck. 

The driver, perhaps, could have overlooked this bit of vanity, 
but not what followed, as the officer continued in a dictatorial 
manner : 

' ' Make room for me on the seat there ! " 

It happened that the driver had placed two slightly wounded 
American soldiers on the seat, who were waiting to get back 
to a dressing-station. 

"Nothing doing!" almost shouted the plucky driver. "I'm 
particular about my company! Get in with your gang, and be 
quick about it ! " 

" I 'm a captain ! ' ' the other retorted. * * Throw off those 
American swine and make room for me on that front seat. I — " 



168 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

He got no further. Instantly whipping out a poeket-knife 
and holding it in one hand, the driver gripped the German 
oflS.cer by the collar, and with his powerful arm jerked him from 
the ground as if he had been a child. 

"Captain, eh?" said he, giving him a shake, very much as 
a dog would a rat. "Well, we won't let that worry you longl 
See here ! ' ' 

And as he spoke, the hand with the open knife deftly clipped 
the insignia from the officer's shoulders. 

"You're busted!" said the clever soldier. "You're a private 
now ! Get back in the ranks with the rest of them ! ' ' 

With this he landed the man in the truck among the other 
prisoners, gave the auto-truck horn a "honk-honk!" and sped 
away. 

FROM RULER TO OUTCAST. 

When the Kaiser of Germany was forced to abdicate and flee 
for his life, he had 110 palaces and estates, and no home. He 
had more than a hundred uniforms and over three hundred suits 
of clothes, but no disguise. He had fifty titles, but no good 
name. He had six sons, but no comfort in his old age. 

"There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing" 
(Prov. 13: 7). 

"The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of 
the wicked shall rot" (Prov. 10: 7). 

A SNOB, BUT NO QUITTER. 

Of the several thousand capable men from all walks of life 
who offered their services for Y. M. C. A. war work, from the 
plain man of small means to the man of wealth, yes, some mil- 
lionaires, it was not surprising that a few should begin with an 
exaggerated opinion of their own importance. 

One such, who had a rude awakening, gave his experience in 
Association Men. He had an independent fortune and was pay 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS [69 

ing his own expenses in the work. Fastidiousness was written all 
over him. He had built a cheap veneer of snobbishness all 
around his soul. 

In his preliminary training before being assigned for duty 
overseas, his sensitive nature received some very severe shocks. 
From an expensive New York hotel he drove up to the Y. M. 
C. A. training-school in a limousine, and unacclaimed stood in 
line with other men to be assigned to quarters. Irritable, he 
waited there, feeling sure that when the ofi&cers in charge knew 
who he was, and understood the greatness of the sacrifice he was 
making, things would be changed in a hurry. 

When the galling wait was over, he went to his room — small, 
cheerless, with a couple of chairs and two iron cots — that had 
served as an army barracks. This was bitter, but, with vanity 
unscatched, he inquired of the old Scotch elevator man "the way 
to the restaurant." "When he reached the place he was shocked 
to see men in line waiting to be served. Would he stand in 
line for food? Never! 

No one paid any attention to him, nor seemed to care what 
happened to him — yet, if he left, some one might question his 
patriotism, so he decided to stay with it. When he had finished 
eating he received another jolt to find that every one was collect- 
ing his own dishes. He was ashamed not to do what the others 
were doing, so picked up his dishes and marched out. 

Busy analyzing his experiences, he returned to his room, and 
was surprised to find that another man had been assigned to the 
room with him. It was a soldier, sitting on one of the cots, 
looking at the photo of his wife and children. There were tears 
in his eyes. The man in uniform explained that he simply could 
not help feeling as he did; that he did not realize what it meant 
before to leave his wife and kiddies. He was a carpenter, and 
was to go to France to build Y. M. C. A. huts. 

The self-conceited man was then and there unnerved. Here 
was real sacrifice. It gripped his heart. Silently he dedicated 



170 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

his life, his fortune, his all, to the cause of his country — ^he 
didn't care what any one thought of him, or what they asked 
him to do, he would do it. And he did. From that moment he 
was a changed man. He went to France. There he came into 
possession of the rich experience derived from real sacrifice and 
service. 

AMERICANS EXHIBITED IN CAGES. 

Germany at first scoffed at the idea that America's entrance 
into the war would make any material difference. To show her 
contempt for the American soldiers, she permitted some who were 
among the first to be taken prisoners to be placed in cages and 
exhibited in Berlin like wild animals, according to a letter written 
by Lieut. Clifford Dodds, with a forestry division in France. 

Admission was charged the public to see the prisoners, and 
the cages were labeled: ''A Rare Species of Americans, a Few 
of Whom Were Found in France." 

The boastful, cruel, egotistical Kaiser and his followers found 
out later that the species was not so "rare," and that the 
"few" found in France were sufficient to turn the tide of war 
against the Huns, causing them to head toward Berlin at a rapid 
pace, not for the purpose of seeing more of the rare specimens, 
but to get away from those they had seen. 

GERMANY TAKES HER OWN MEDICINE. 

Germany's excuse for the war, publicly proclaimed, was that 
history proved that weaker nations must fall, and stronger 
nations rise, by the test of war. This was working fine for the 
Germans for a year or so after the war began, but when, in 
July, 1918, the tide turned and the Allies were killing Germans 
by the tens of thousands, the German press and people shrieked: 
' ' The Allies are trying to crush us ! " 

In the beginning, as the Huns saw it, Germany was to domi- 
nate the world, with a few of the larger nations, perhaps, occupy- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS m 

ing the role of second place. Among these were France and 
Great Britain, America was then treated as being too feeble 
for anything but ridicule. 

Then when, in the course of war events, the truth became 
known, and a million and a half American soldiers were already 
on French soil, with hundreds of thousands more moving France- 
ward, on trains and steamships, the German tune suddenly 
changed. So great a German paper as the Kolnische Zeitung, 
in its reports of German defeat along the western front, attrib- 
uted the change largely to the Americans, saying: 

"We could not reckon on the complete surprise of the enemy, 
as in March. Everywhere the enemy stood in readiness to offer 
determined resistance at the first attack. ' ' 

And it was the same ever after, until the Huns were forced 
to surrender. The "contemptible Yankees" spoiled their game. 

laNORANCE 

GEORGIA NEGRO'S REPROOF. 

One of our loyal Georgia negroes, fighting in France, asked 
a French Senegalese (black troops) for some tobacco. The latter 
readily granted the request and spoke in excellent French. This 
greatly surprised our American negro. Carefully sizing up the 
other black man, he said with a puzzled air: 

"Can't you all talk plain niggah talk? Has you all done 
been ovah heah so long you've done forgotten yo' mothah 
tongue?" 

HAD A PASS TO BERLIN. 

Anticipating General Pershing's drive toward the strongly 
fortified city of Metz, an American negro soldier started walking 
down the railway in the direction of Berlin, with his gun over 
his shoulder. When his comrades saw him, one of them ran after 
and rescued him from his perilous undertaking only a few him- 



172 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

dred yards from the German wires. When reproached for what 
he was doing, he calmly produced this pass, which some practical 
joker had given him: 

"Please pass this man to Berlin. — President Wilson." 

HAD NOT HEAED OF THE WAR. 

A young man in Delaware, twenty-four years of age, arrested 
in September, 1918, for evading the draft, was released when he 
proved he did not know the United States was at war, and that 
he had not seen a newspaper for more than three years. His 
home was on a small island farm in the middle of a swamp 
near Newfound, Delaware. He had not even gone to the village 
store for over three years, sending others after the few necessities 
of life required by him. 

He did not know there was a country named France, but said 
he was willing to fight for America, if he did not have to leave 
the United States. He was allowed to return to his home to 
straighten up any affairs needing attention, and was ordered to 
report to Georgetown, Delaware, for military duty within a week. 

INDUSTRY 

LAUNCHING THE "COURAGEOUS." 

On July 4, 1918, the keel of the 12,000-ton merchant ship, 
"Courageous," was laid at the Alameda (Cal.) plant of the 
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, and forty-eight days later 
the ship slid from its cradle into the waters of the Pacific. 

Employed at the plant was Albert Rupp, who lived alone in 
a modest cottage in Alameda. Six days a week he labored as a 
"bolter-up," driving into place with hammer and wrench the 
steel plates of the great ships. On the seventh day he meditated 
and wrote. That he correctly sensed the purpose of the American 
Government in speeding up shipbuilding in helping to win the 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS \73 

war, is clearly evidenced in the production of the following poem 
by him, entitled "Launching the 'Courageous' ": 

"Majestic ship of a dream sublime, 

By the will of our strong arms hurled 
Into the greatest epic time 

That ever convulsed the world 1 
Go forth to defy the fangs of hell, 

As the seas with blood they stain. 
And the heavens are shaken with shot and shell. 

And shrieking souls of the slain I 

"We built you well, by winds and fires. 

And the lightning's thrilling darts. 
To image in steel the bold desires 

Of our mighty Titan's hearts. 
Now, staunch for the ocean's terrible strife, 

Slide from your nest in the air, — 

And speed for the lofty work of life, 

Which our marching millions bear! 

"Sail through the cosmic throes of fright. 

And storms on the nations' rage I 
Sail to the Eras of Peace and Right, 

And sail to the Golden Agel 
Courageous ship of a dream sublime. 

By the will of our strong arms hurled 
Into the greatest epic time 

That ever convulsed the world I" 

GERMAN "STEEL MINES" IN FRANCE. 

Although the Germans had control of some of the rich mines 
of France during the war, which they were finally compelled to 
give up, they left rich mines of steel buried in the soil. It 
was the steel from countless shells, tons upon tons of it, and its 
value was reasonably supposed to run up into millions of dollars. 

Some day it will be "mined" and salvaged by the native 
people, thus making up in part for the damage done the fields 
of that fair land. These artificial mines will no doubt be worked 
for many years to come, and the wasted German steel, fired 
because of German greed for conquest, will be turned into tools 
of peaceful industry in rebuilding France. 



174 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

INFLUENCE 

POSTAGE STAMP FOE A TEXT. 

Eev. John F. Cowan, while serving as a T. M. C. A. worker 
at Camp Kearney, California, where many thousands of soldiers 
were in training, wrote thus of his work: 

You might think I do a lot of preaching here; yes, but not in the con- 
ventional way. I would rather have the counter for my pulpit and a three- 
cent postage stamp for my text, and the remark, "I'll bet you haye written 
a corking letter to the home folks," to the man who buys the stamp, for 
an introduction, than stand in a sacerdotal robe in a mahogany pulpit. 

It was the kind of preaching the Master did a great deal. And the 
routine work of the "Y" man, that seems far from preaching, isn't it the 
kind of ministering to the body that He did who said that He came to be 
the servant of all J 

WHAT A MAN BELIEVES. 

Germany has taught the world that it does make a great dif- 
ference what a man believes, and that no longer can any intel- 
ligent man honestly say: 

"It makes no difference what a man believes, so long as his 
actions are right." 

The Germans proved with cruel plainness that what a man, 
or nation, believes to-day will lead to certain actions to-morrow; 
that what we believe we will eventually become. 

The Germans' god was nothing but a "magnified Kaiser," as 
Dr. Frederick Lynch expressed it in the Christian at Work: 

During the whole war the Germans lived this faith. They acted just as 
people must always act who hold this faith. They have been hard, cruel, 
relentless, merciless and as savage as their gods. Power, might, the achieve- 
ment of ends regardless of moral distinctions, have actuated every move of 
the nation. Revenge has been as the bread of life to them because their 
god practices revenge. Militarism is their creed because their god is a 
god of war. Power is their one ideal because their god is power, not love. 
Never has there been a more perfect illustration of the absolute power of a 
belief over actions. 

Men and nations may go off on tangents, but eventually those 
who thinh must come back to the Book of books for the wisdom 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS l^S 

and correct interpretation of things that never change. In this 
Book we read that as a man thinketh in Ms heart, so is he. 

Yes, the belief of the people of a nation, cherished in the 
mind, will mark the course of that nation as surely as that the 
hidden seed will burst forth into the fruit of its own kind. 

Eabbi Joseph Krauskopf, of Philadelphia, who visited Ger- 
many shortly before the outbreak of the war, said upon his return 
to America: 

Germany's churches were poorly attended, its barracks -were crowded. 
Instead of worshiping God, Germany worships power. It has m.ore faith 
in Krupp than in God. Militarism is its highest ism. Far more honor is 
shown to its army officers than to its church dignitaries. It erects more 
statues to its military heroes than to all other kinds of men combined. 
The uniformed man is ubiquitous. The rattle of the sword is heard every- 
where, and the arrogance of its bearers is disgusting as well as alarming. 

INITIATIVE 

FREAK WAE INVENTIONS. 

Inventive ingenuity is not coniined to the Yankees, as wag 
demonstrated during the war, when the following individual sug- 
gestions were offered to the British Government to help win the 
war: 

Blot out the moon on moonlight nights, by means of a great beam of 
"black light," so the Huns could make no moonlight raids. 

Build a cement gun to squirt cement over the Huns and petrify them. 

Equip a monster shell with motor and steering-gear, and put a man 
in it, with a place near the center for him to be seated, with his head 
just above the outer rim, and tell him to drive it to the point desired, then 
explode it. 

Freeze the clouds and mount artillery on them from aeroplanes. 

Send over the German lines a fleet of balloons carrying powerful mag- 
nets which would jerk the guns out of the enemy's hands and the tin hats 
from their heads. 

Shoot poisonous snakes into the Hun trenches by compressed air. 

YANKS THINK AHEAD OF GERMANS. 

Corporal Hanan, of the U. S. infantry, during the height of 
the battle near Soissons, saw a German abandon his machine 

12 



176 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

gun and run into a cave. Hanan immediately stationed two 
privates at the mouth of the cave, and, gathering a bunch of 
grenades, climbed to the top of a hill just over the entrance 
to the underground space into which the German had disappeared. 
On the brow of the hill was an opening which had evidently 
been used as a chimney. Into this Hanan began tossing his 
grenades. Within a few seconds there was a lively skirmish 
inside, and out rushed a German colonel, two other officers and 
sixty-four privates, with their hands up and shouting "Kame- 
rad!" 

They were easUy taken prisoners — all of which shows that 
the Yankee soldier thinks ahead of the German. Scores of inci- 
dents during the war proved this true. 

LOCOMOTIVE "FIRED" AT GERMANS. 

An American unit of railway engineers was hauling ammu- 
nition and supplies to the French during one of the German 
drives. At the height of the battle, when the Huns were coming 
in such force and with such rapidity that it meant the loss of 
anything that could not be moved promptly, their $15,000 loco- 
motive jumped the track. 

For an instant they were dismayed. Quick as a flash, how- 
ever, Sergt. George Robinson, in charge, took in the whole 
situation, and proceeded accordingly. He looked at his steam- 
gauge, screwed the safety-valve down tight, turned the fuel oU 
full force into the fire-box, and then led his crew in retreat, 
double-quick time. 

Half an hour later some sixty Germans were standing around 
the stranded locomotive, admiring the prize, when the boiler 
did just what Sergeant Robinson had calculated. It exploded 
with the force of a fourteen-inch shell, killing every German near 
it, scattering their bodies in bits in every direction. 

Later Sergeant Robinson was decorated with the French croix 
de guerre. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 177 

KINDNESS 

AMERICANS ERECT GERMAN TOMBSTONE. 

The Golden Rule was not just a memory with our soldiers 
in France. With the great majority it was a matter of daily 
practice, even in the face of cruelties that were hard to overlook. 

Among the vast quantity of material which the Germans 
were compelled to leave behind in one of their hasty retreats in 
France, was a tombstone of large dimensions, finished and let- 
tered, bearing the name, rank, etc., of a German colonel. On 
it was also chiseled the replica of an iron cross of the first 
order and the familiar inscription, '*Gott Mit Uns." 

Did the Americans destroy it or deface it? No. They found 
the gTave of the colonel, temporarily marked to designate his 
place of burial, and eight American soldiers were detailed to 
carry the stone there and put it in position. After this was done, 
and the earth packed around and smoothed over, a bugler of the 
U. S. army sounded taps. 

Then our fine boys over there, who could not let hate come 
into their hearts, marched away to take up other duties. 

THREATENINGS TURNED TO KINDNESS. 

When the heart is stirred with indignation over some cruel 
wrong, as was often the case with the enemies of Germany dur- 
ing the war, one feels that he will ''get even" in a similar 
manner, when the opportunity comes. But the real heart of the 
individual is seen in what he actually does and not what he 
threatens to do. 

A chaplain in France, who had heard the soldiers tell what 
they would do to the Germans the first chance that came to them, 
said: 

"I should have trembled for the poor Germans if I had not 
known it was mere talk. 'Just wait until we catch them, chap- 



178 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

lain,^ they would say; 'you'll see what we'll do to them!' 
'Yes,' I would answer, 'I know. You'll give them bread and 
coffee. ' 

"And that is just what they did do. I have seen many hun- 
dreds of German prisoners, but in all my experience I never saw 
one mistreated by the French." 

FRENCH "CHRISTMAS GIFT" ORPHANS. 

The Stars and Stripes, organ of the American Expeditionary 
Forces in France, inaugurated a plan, in September, 1918, before 
the war closed, for the adoption, by American soldiers, of five 
hundred French war orphans before Christmas Day of the same 
year, thus insuring a happy Christmas, as well as many happy 
days to follow, for that number of boys and girls whose fathers 
had lost their lives in defense of their homes. 

The response was immediate and hearty. Answers came from 
units in all branches of the service, with a liberal sprinkling of 
adoptions by individuals, from privates to colonels. 

The adoption was for the purpose of providing food, cloth- 
ing, comfort and schooling for the children, all of whom were 
left in destitute circumstances. The paper referred to listed 
every child of the five hundred, after careful investigation as to 
the merits of each case. 

A major in the medical department adopted a child to cele- 
brate the first anniversary of his arrival in France. 

"I don't know how I could more fitly celebrate it," he 
wrote. "Please pick me out one that no one else wants. I had 
been looking for presents for my wife and boy for Christmas 
when I saw your appeal. I shall make this my Christmas present 
to them." 

REVENGE TURNED TO KINDNESS. 

Hal B. Donnelly, of Asbury Park, New Jersey, was so 
anxious to help whip the Huns that he enlisted in the Canadian 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 179 

army in 1916. When he went to France, after reading of the 
atrocities of the Germans, he had hatred in his heart for every 
subject of the Kaiser. Desiring to take no chance of not 
killing as many Germans as possible, he added to his equipment 
a very sharp knife. When the time came to go over the top, 
his condition was as he thus describes it: 

"I was loaded down like a dromedary; I looked like a 
Christmas tree all hung — rifle, bayonet, grenades, pick and shovel, 
rounds of ammunition, two packs of rations — 'all dressed up 
and nowhere to go ' I " 

After one of the battles, during which three of the best first- 
aid men in his group were killed, an officer asked for volunteers 
to help care for the wounded. He volunteered, and not only 
dressed men, but, with another soldier, carried them out to a 
sheltered spot in a sunken road. After he had been working 
hard several hours, another officer came to him and said: 

"There's a Hun lying in the trench up a ways. Will you 
get him out?" 

Immediately the tenderness of Donnelly, which had been 
brought out in many ways while he was helping the sufferers 
of his own army, gave way to bitterness and hate. With this 
feeling came the thought that he could now use that extra sharp 
knife. 

' ' Yes, I '11 get him out ! I '11 slit his throat ! ' ' replied 
Donnelly. 

With his big knife in hand, he started up the line in search 
of the wounded German. He found him. Here is how he tells 
of what followed: 

"I went up to the Hun — a big, blue-eyed Saxon. He looked 
up at me and said in German, 'Will you get me out?' One 
look at the poor fellow, and I dressed his wounds and carried 
him the first lap on his journey to the hospital! 

"And thus died the last spark of f rightfulness that was in 
me. I was not made of the stuff the Hun was." 



180 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

LETTERS 

WRITES MESSAGE IN AIRPLANE. 

Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Sparling, of HoUister, California, received 
a letter from their son, Edward, in training at Fort Worth, 
Texas, for aeroplane duty overseas, written while flying through 
the air. Here is a portion of his message: 

The air is thoroughly enjoyable and the country beautiful. It looks 
like a great patch-quilt now. My altitude is 5,500 feet. My motor is turn- 
ing at the rate of 1,425 revolutions per minute. The oil pressure is fifty- 
six pounds per square inch, and everything is lovely. It is sure great sport. 

FROM THE SIERRAS TO FRANCE. 

From away out in the high Sierras went a sturdy mountaii 
boy to France, to fight with Uncle Sam's soldiers — ^William H. 
Bellows, of Dutch Flat, California. After months had gone by, 
with the young man's mother waiting anxiously at home, came a 
telegram stating that her soldier boy was missing in action after 
one of those terrible battles in which so many fell. Then came 
a letter from the boy, written before the date of his dropping 
from sight, and in that letter he said: 

Deae Mother: — It was only God that saved us. We were four days 
on the firing-line, and the air and ground around quivered with bursting 
shells. I read that little verse you sent me every day, and I am sure it 
helped me. My hair stood on end many times, but still I always seemed 
to have strength to obey orders and hold my post. During my rest back 
of the lines I went to a picture show. They flashed a picture of an Ameri- 
can mother on the screen, with her soldier son kneeling at her side; it 
surely made all the boys feel pretty blue, and many of them left the hall. 
By the time you receive this I wiU again be at my post in the first line, 
and if I don't happen to be as fortunate this time you will know I did 
my best. 

WELCOMED THE BLUE ENVELOPE. 

As nearly every one knows, letters arriving and leaving the 
countries at war were censored. Usually the censor passes by, 
with no interest; whatever may be written concerning little per- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 18[ 

sonalities and family matters. He is looking only for the things 
that must not be written. But one California soldier in France 
was in a different boat. Joseph Timmons tells about it: 

He and the lieutenant, who censored his letters, had sweethearts who 
were sisters. He found it awkward to be as warm in his expressions of 
affection as he would like to be, when he knew the lieutenant was bound 
to give his letter scrutiny that had keen personal interest. He pictured the 
officer chuckling over his effusions and writing to the sister about them. 
So he held himself in, and then once a month, when he got a blue envelope, 
which went to the censor of a larger unit, he gave free rein to his ardor. 

The blue envelope is a device to give the enlisted man opportunity to 
write things he does not want to chance falling under the eye of his own 
company officers, but which may yet be properly written. This particular 
enlisted man from California rega,rded it as one of the best institutions in 
the army. 

PERSHING A LOVER OF HOMES. 

During all the strenuous days of the war, with hundreds of 
thousands of men under his charge, General Pershing was never 
too busy with the many demands of the critical period to give 
attention to the ideals for which the home stands. He felt a 
personal responsibility in protecting the boys who had given up 
their homes for the time being, that they might be spared from 
contact with every phase of evil it was possible to avoid, and 
return as clean and strong, barring the uncontrollable circum- 
stances of war, as when they enlisted. 

Then, he urged every American soldier to write regularly to 
his loved ones, and prior to Mothers' Bay, 1918, he made a 
special request that every one of them write to mother. He gave 
such mail right of way over everything else at that time. Hun- 
dreds of thousands of letters were written, no doubt, because this 
lover of homes was so thoughtful about it all. 

It mattered -not what other tasks were before him while in 
France, General Pershing himself sent a cable letter home every 
Sunday. This was his one unvarying rule. 

Americans love the name of Pershing, not alone because he 
proved himself a great general, standing for the defense of 



182 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

civilization, but because he first of all proved himself a great 
man, and took his stand for the homes of the world. 

WHEN THE GERMANS RETREATED. 

In the early autumn of 1918, after the Germans had been 
making a "glorious retreat" for several months, for "strateg- 
ical reasons," there appeared in the Cameron (Mo.) Observer, 
a letter assumed to have been written by the Crown Prince of 
Germany to his father, the Kaiser. The following are extracts: 

Deab Papa: — I am writing on de ran, as the brave and glorious men 
under my command have not seen the Rhine for so long dat dey have 
started dat vay, and of course I am going mit dem. 

First I started on my big offensive, which was to crush the fool Ameri- 
cans. Veil, according to vat you haf always told me, dem Americans 
don't know anything about war, and, instead of running de odder vay, 
dey come right toward us. Some of dem was singing and some of dem 
laughing like fools. Dey are so ignorant. But dey are awful reckless 
mit dere guns, and ven dey come toward us it was den dat my men took 
a notion dey vanted to go to de dear old Rhine. 

And, papa, you know dem breastplates vat you sent us; can you send 
some to put on our backs too ? You know ve are going de odder vay now, 
and de cowardly Americans are shooting us right in de back. Some of our 
boys put dere breastplates behind dem, but de ignorant Americans are play- 
ing "De Star-Spangled Banner" mit machine guns on dem plates. 

Tou remember in your speech you said nothing could stand before de 
brave German soldiers. Papa, I don't believe dose ignorant Americans ever 
read your speech, for dey chase us like ve vas a lot of rabbits. Vot you 
tink of dot? Can't you send some of your speeches to dem right avay? 
Dey don't know how terrible ve are. 

Can't you move my army back to Belgium? My men can vip all de 
vimmen and children dat de Belgians bring up. 

Let me know vat to do right avay, by return post-office. 

LOYALTY 

OUR BOYS AND THE FRENCH GIRLS. 

Soon after American soldiers began landing on French soil by 
the hundreds of thousands, with the French people, particularly 
the girls, showing them every possible friendship, discussion 
sprang up all over America as to what effect this might have 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 183 



in winning American Lusbands for French, women. By many 
the subject was treated seriously, and by others humorously. 
While there were announced a few such engagements, letters from 
our soldiers then in France indicated that the great bulk of them 
had no intention of marrying over there. 

The subject was not only treated in prose, but poetry. Here 
is a verse from a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox which expresses 
it about as most American soldiers seemed to feel about it: 

"I haven't a word but words of praise 

For these dear little girls of France ; 
And I will confess that I've felt a thrill 

As I faced their line of advance! 
But I haven't been taken a prisoner yet. 

And I won't be until the day 
I can carry my colors to lay at the feet 

Of the girl from the U. S. A." 

AMEEICAlSr NEGROES AT THE FINISH. 

Noble Hall, a war coi-respondent, says that when the fighting 
ceased on November 11, 1918, the famous negro regiment, 
formerly the Fifteenth New York Infantry, brigaded with tlie 
Seventh French army, held the most advanced section of the 
western battle-front — the town of Thann. 

The whole valley was bedecked with British, French and 
American flags and filled with the joyous clanging of bells, which 
for four years preceding had been rung only for the many dead. 

KAISER TATTOO REMOVED. 

Arthur R. Martin, of Paden City, West Virginia, who was a, 
tattooed man in a circus, with his body much like a moving- 
picture show, had, among other noted personages, a picture of 
the Kaiser's face. He underwent an operation for its removal. 

"I'm going to enlist in the Marine Corps," he told the 
doctors at the hospital, ''but I want this piece of skin taken 
out first, so I can go to the camp without being afraid to take 
off my clothes before my pals." 



184 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

He liad the right idea. One's inner and outer life should 
harmonize. 

THE DEMAND OF ONE BANK. 

While the fourth Liberty Loan drive was on, the officers 
of a bank at Pasadena, California, served notice on a depositor 
to withdraw his account, because, being abundantly able, he had 
not subscribed to any of the war loans or war activities. 

It is a healthy sign when Americans put loyalty and patriot- 
ism above the patronage of any man, regardless of how wealthy 
he may be. 

LOYAL JUST THE SAME. 

"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier," 

For I didn't know the Hun was on his track. 
But I raised him for a thoroughgoing freeman. 
And I know that he will never, never slack. 

"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier," 

But I gave him blood that's always good and red. 
He doesn't want to win a gory glory, 

But he'll always be a freeman — ^live or dead. 

"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier," 

But I always tried to keep him clean and white. 
And in the van of Honor's worthy calling, 

He'll serve the cause of right with all his might. 

"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier," 

But you'll find him standing faithful by the flag; 

Bed-blooded, white-souled, and honor bright true-blue. 

He'll help them teach the Hun to rue "Der Tag." 

— George W. Taylor, in San Francisco Bulletin. 

LOYALTY OF OUR NEGROES. 

During the great war, with America stirred from center to 
circumference, no one class of citizens responded more loyally 
to every call of the varied service required than the negroes. 
Not only did they enlist by the tens of thousands, but they 
sacrificed their blood on the fields of battle, and rendered loyal 
service in countless other ways. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 185 

In view of these facts, the Chicago Defender, published in 
the interests of the negro race, very appropriately gave space to 
the following poem, entitled ''A Soldier and a Man," written 
by Charles W. Johnson, of Company L, M. V. M.: 

"Uniforms have many colors, 

Some are old and some are new; 
Many are the men who. wear them, 

Bnt it matters not their hue. 
Put aside your biased feeling. 

That's the way to win the fight; 
Just forget your comrade's color — 

Both are fighting for the right. 

"Get acquainted with this comrade, 

With his heart and soul inside; 
Test and try to understand him. 

Though he may be black outside. 
He will be right there to aid you 

Should a bullet find its mark; 
No one would refuse the succor 

Of a man because he's dark. 

"Battlefields in countless numbers 

"With black soldiers' blood has run; 
Treat him, therefore, as a soldier 

For the service he has done. 
Was his courage ever doubted 

In the war of sixty-one ? 
Was he ever known to falter 

At the roaring of the gun? 

"God alone has made his color. 

Men should never criticize; 
Earth to earth will be our portion 

And our souls are of a size. 
Patriotism lives within him; 

Give him rights ; he'll do his part, 
Wishing to but serve his country 

With the life-blood of his heart." 

WHY WOUNDED MAN WAS ANGEY. 

An American soldier was picked up on a battlefield in France 
with his throat cut almost from ear to ear, and yet he was alive. 
He was taken to a hospital, and was saved as if by a miracle 
of modern surgery. When he was too weak to speak or to even 



186 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

open his eyes, his face ghastly pale and death hovering very 
near, he touched the contrivance by which the severely wounded 
make their wants known, and, to the utter amazement of the 
doctors at his bedside, spelled out the words: "I'll fool you 
yet." 

And he did fool them. In a few days he was sitting up in 
bed. He was a model sufferer, except for one thing — patient with 
the nurses and doctors, and appreciative of all that was done 
for him. But he quarreled with everybody from the chief of 
staff down to the orderly because they wouldn't promise him he 
would be ready to go back to his regiment on a certain date I 

HIS NERVE LOST AND REGAINED. 

A young lieutenant in the American army in France, who was 
but little over twenty-one, was overcome by fear and ran during 
the hail of shells in his first battle. Court-martial faced him 
under the charge of "cowardice in action." If sustained, it 
meant punishment and disgrace. 

When the day for the court-martial arrived, the young man 
had pulled himself together. He said manfully to the Court: 

"I have disgraced my company. I have proven unworthy of 
command. Will you give me another chance? Of course I have 
lost my commission. Let me enlist in the ranks as a private, to 
fight with my own company under the command of that private 
who has so nobly advanced to my position. ' ' 

The Court was much impressed, and granted the request. 
Twice after that, in battles far more violent than when he lost 
his courage, he faced danger and death without flinching. He 
was twice cited for conspicuous bravery, and regained his stand- 
ing with the company where he had formerly brought about his 
disgrace. 

Many persons need to learn the lesson in this incident for 
their guidance in civil life — be willing to give every one who has 
failed in any undertaking a chance to redeem himself, so long 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS [87 

as lie desires another opportunity to make good. When an indi- 
vidual is willing to try, there is something in him well worth 
encouraging. 

POISONED BY THE KAISER'S KULTUR. 

A German woman who worked for a wealthy family, in one 
of our American cities, was sobbing one day while doing her 
work, and when asked the cause of her sorrow, replied: 

"Both my brothers have been killed in the German army. 
One was safe in Stockholm and went home to fight for the 
fatherland. They didn't know — they didn't know! 

"Seven years ago I worked in Strassburg for a rich family. 
There were fourteen rooms. I waxed every floor twice a week. 
Every morning I blackened nine pairs of shoes. I did all the 
housework, even the washing. I worked till nine o'clock every 
night, and sometimes later. But they were aristocrats. I 
couldn't complain. It was my place. Oh, my poor brothers! 
They died for thoit! They thought it was right. The Kaiser 
poisoned them to death with his kultur." 

INDIAN WANTED TO GET KAISER. 

Company E of the 142d Infantry Regiment, which was sta- 
tioned for a time at Camp Bowie, was made up wholly of 
Oklahoma Indians, commanded by Capt. Walter Veach, himself a 
half-Choctaw. Many of them were rich, owning valuable oil- 
lands. Many were college graduates. All, without exception, 
were as anxious to be sent immediately to France as any white 
soldiers. 

One private was Jess Fixon, a Cherokee. He couldn't talk 
English clearly, but could make himself understood by the use 
of many signs. Approaching a lieutenant, he gave him to under- 
stand that he wanted a chance to go to France at once and 
bayonet the Kaiser, all by himself. Of course many soldierig 
and civilians had said the same thing, not expecting the privilege. 



168 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

but Fixon was sincere, and couldn't understand why his request 
was not promptly granted. 

That he had a clear understanding as to why we were at war 
with the Kaiser was shown in answer to the question: "Why 
do you want to kill the Kaiser?" Straightening himself up, his 
eyes shining keen and sharp, he replied with great force: 

"He kill um pappoose! He kill um squaw! So me, Jess 
Fixon, will find this Kaiser and stick um bayonet, clear through! 
UghI" 

It was evident that even this red man, descendant of once 
so-called savages, uneducated and uncultured, was aroused to 
great indignation over the brutality of the Jcultured and highly 
educated Kaiser. 

That the Germans, under the leadership of their kultur- 
teachers, had descended below the scale of the red savages who 
once roamed over the wilds of America, will never again be a 
question for argument. The deeds of the Germans in their 
dealings with women, children and helpless old men were so much 
blacker than anything ever recorded of the Indians that there 
is no room for comparison. 

MISTAKEN 

A SHIFT IN BITING GEANITE. 

Only a few months before the Kaiser was forced to abdicate, 
former President Kaempf, of the German Eeiehstag, in com- 
menting upon the assertion of President Wilson that the Ger- 
man people must separate themselves from their autocratic gov- 
ernment, boldly affirmed that the American President was 
"biting on granite." 

It would have been interesting to know what Kaempf thought 
of his absurd statement on and after November 11, 1918. It 
was not President Wilson who was biting granite during the days 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 189 

when Germany was beaten to her knees, and forced to discard 
the wicked Kaiser as a part of her system of government, just 
as President Wilson said must be done. 

WIRED FOR BROTHER TO BURY HIM. 

A recruit from a prairie town who was sent to Camp Upton, 
New York, like many others, was puzzled for a time to under- 
stand the meaning of some of the camp language. One day 
when his company was lined up, an officer started detailing the 
men for certain things. "You'll be scorer," he said to one. 
''You'll be marker," to another, and "You'll be shot," to still 
another. It happened that this recruit was among those desig- 
nated to be shot, says Leslie's WeeMy. The young man's heart 
seemed to almost stop beating. 

He fell out and lined up with the others, doomed to die, as he 
thought, and was greatly worried. He could think of no reason 
at all why he should be put to death. At his first opportunity 
that day he went to the camp telegraph office and wired his 
brother in Buffalo that he was to be shot the next morning, and 
requested the brother to come and take charge of his body. 

The next morning, however, he learned that "being shot" 
meant that he was to shoot at the targets. This was a wonderful 
relief to him, until he began to worry about what explanation 
to make to his brother when he should arrive to arrange for his 
funeral. 

MOTHER 

WONDERFUL POWER OF MOTHER. 

John R. Mott, conversing with General Edwards, of the 
American army in France, asked him to explain why it was that 
the young men of America, not acquainted with war, had con- 
ducted themselves so splendidly. Even while they were convers- 
ing, the report came in telling how United States troops had 



190- STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

been caught between the barrage of the enemy and our own, 
through some mistake, and had been punished for hours without 
wavering. Again did Mr. Mott urge an explanation of it all. 
General Edwards reflected a moment and gave this answer, 
which Mr. Mott said he would ever treasure: 

"1 trace it to the tradition of the American mother." 

COURAGE ON HOSPITAL COTS. 

The American soldiers in France, when wounded, proved just 
as brave in the hospitals as at the front. One black-haired 
youth of twenty, with seven machine-gun bullet wounds, asked 
for a piece of writing-paper and a pencil. Half an hour later, 
when his turn came for the operating-table, the attendants found 
him dead with the beginning of his letter in his hand: 

Deae Mother: — We went over the top after the Germans to-day, and 
chased them five miles. I am in a hospital to-night. I was wounded 
slightly in the leg. I'U be back at them in two — " 

And there the pencil had dropped from the lifeless hand of 
the boy, with his last act and thought for mother, far away over 
the sea in America. 

WHEN THE SOLDIER IS DYING. 

Chaplain Abbie Flynn, who was with the French soldiers, 
said while in America: "I have met a wonderful kindness in 
America, but I want to be back with my boys; back with your 
boys too! For now, thank God, they are standing shoulder to 
shoulder with us. In many ways they are alike, these soldiers — 
French, British or American. You know, for all their courage, 
their splendid heroism, they are to us chaplains just our little 
boys. There is a curious and beautiful revival of the child spirit 
in them. 

"For instance, when they are grievously wounded, when they 
are dying, it is their mother for whom they always call. Every 
one wiU tell you that. It is not something 'made up' because 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 19j_ 

it sounds well. It is the truth. And it is not only the mere 
boys who do this, either. Older men, fathers of families them- 
selves, go back in spirit to the time when they were little chil- 
dren, to whom their mother was the source of all pity and loving 
tenderness. ' ' 

MESSAGE TO MOTHER FROM THE AIR. 

An incident showing how the youths of Belgium love their 
mothers is given in the London Daily Express: 

A Belgian aviator recently flew over Brussels, waving a large Belgian 
flag, by way of celebrating the birthday of his mother, who lived in that 
city. He arrived at dawn, located his father's house, and flew so low he 
was almost within speaking distance. The noise of the motor aroused 
many people from bed. He saw his father, stopped his motor and shouted: 
"Papal Papa!" 

The father looked up and recognized his son, whom he had not seen for 
four years. He ran and brought his wife out of the house. When she 
saw her son she fainted. The' aviator waved his hand and dropped a note 
which read : 

"Many happy returns. Don't lose courage. We are not forgetting you. 
Keep well. A bos les Boches." 

Plying high again, he managed to return to tho Belgian lines, despite 
fuxious German anti-aircraft £re. 

MUSIC 

AMERICANS CAPTURE GERMAN BAND. 

One American contingent in France captured an entire Ger- 
man regimental band. The Yanks made the men march back 
playing a French war song, much to the chagrin of the players. 
They were good musicians, so the Americans kept them around 
several days, just for their music, before turning them over to 
the officers in charge of prisoners. 

A SONG AND THEN DEATH. 

Making his way down the trenches one day in France, a 
Y. M. C. A. man with a pack of chocolates on his back, which 
13 



192 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

he was passing out to American soldiers, came upon the men 
of a machine-gun company, and one of them called out: 

"Here comes the *Y' man!" 

With this greeting they crawled out into the little forest 
for a brief chat. Soon one of them said to him: 

"We missed church last Sunday. Some busy times up here, 
and Fritz needed attention." 

'*I missed you, too, boys," responded the "Y" man. 

"Let's sing now," urged one of the boys. 

And so in a perfectly natural way a little service was held — 
several songs, a short talk and a prayer, then a farewell wave 
of the hands, and the men started back to the dugout, with 
one of them calling out: 

"Come again, and don't wait so long next time!" 

Less than an hour later a high explosive entered the dugout 
and that little group of machine-gun men made the supreme sac- 
rifice — not one escaped death. 

MUSIC'S PART IN ARMY MORALE. 

In one order, in 1918, the U. S. Government bought band 
music costing $50,000, to be sent to the musical organizations 
connected with the American Expeditionary Forces. General 
Pershing made requisition for the music, recognizing its impor- 
tance in keeping up the morale of the fighting men. 

COMPOSED SONGS IN TRENCHES. 

Lieut. Gitz Rice, of the first Canadian contingent to go to 
France, was a photographer in Montreal. In the trenches he 
became the composer of songs that proved so popular they were 
sold and sung everywhere. 

"I never wrote a song in my life," he said to a writer for 
the American Magazine, "until I got in the trenches. I had 
always been able to play the piano, but never thought of com- 
posing songs. It came about this way: In the battle of Neuve 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS m 

Chapelle, in March, 1915, one of my dearest pals was killed. The 
only way I could relieve my feelings was to sing, so one night I 
sat down and composed the words and music of 'Dear Old Pal 
o' Mine.' It made a big liit in the army, and now John McCor- 
mack is singing it in all his concerts." 

Among his other popular songs, all composed in the trenches, 
are "When the War is Over, Mary Dear," "1 Want to Go 
Home," and "Keep Your Head Down, Tritzie Boy." 

During his first few months in the trenches he had no piano, 
which distressed him very much. One day, when a swell chateau 
was being shelled by the Germans, it occurred to him that there 
would surely be a piano in such a house. The instant the fire 
slackened he induced several comrades to accompany him with a 
wagon. When they reached the chateau he was rejoiced to find 
in it a fine piano. It was hurriedly loaded on to the wagon and 
taken on the run down the line back to camp, with thousands 
of soldiers on both sides of the road cheering wildly at the novel 
sight. 

That night Rice started playing at eight o'clock and did not 
stop until four the next morning. The soldiers were so delighted 
with his playing and singing, much of the latter in which they 
joined, that they kept demanding this song or that until he 
nearly dropped from the stool from sheer exhaustion. 

AMERICANS REPAIR FRENCH ■ ORGAN. 

Two American army officers, passing through a French town, 
dropped in to see a cathedral, one of the oldest and most beau- 
tiful in France, Much to their surprise, they heard the strains 
of an American love song filling the great buUding, and the next 
thing they saw an American private at the great pipe-organ, 
playing for all he was worth. 

Turning to the curate, the officers heard this strange story: 

The organ, more than a hundred years old, had been out of 

repair for fifteen years, much to the sorrow of the people of 



194 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

the village. Then two Yankee engineers, stationed with their 
comrades near there, sought and obtained permission to overhaul 
the organ, which they did, by working off hours. They cleaned 
three thousand pipes, some of which were twenty feet long and 
a foot in diameter. They removed over a dozen old bird's nests. 

Then one day they announced an organ recital, and the people 
of the village again flocked to the church, as in days gone by. 
What they saw and heard seemed a miracle to them, for from 
the organ, with those soldier boys alternating at the key-board, 
came forth wonderful strains of music. 

"I can't understand it," said the curate to the army oflScers. 
"We tried many times to have the organ repaired. And here 
come two privates from your army, and not only make complete 
restoration, but in addition are able to play as wonderfully as 
they fight." 

Upon inquiry the officers learned that the two soldiers who 
did the work had been engineering students at Cornell University. 
Both had also taken a deep interest in music, with pipe-organ as 
a specialty. What they did in restoring the old organ to its 
former beauty of tone was a labor of love with them. 

"THE GANG'S ALL HERE!" 

Some of the 'first American soldiers to arrive in France taught 
the French children to sing, "Hail! Haill the Gang's All Here I " 
This explains why the U. S. troops arriving there later were 
greeted upon landing by squads of children singing the popular 
song. It surprised and greatly pleased the soldiers. There were 
all sorts of affectionate little informalities exchanged between 
the children and the manly fellows in khaki. 

"WHEN THE EOLL IS CALLED." 

Edgar DeWitt Jones, who had the privilege of visiting a 
number of army camps in America, was much impressed with the 
way the soldiers took part in singing, whenever the opportunity 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 195 

was afforded. After mentioning a number of favorite songs 
called for by the men in uniform, lie writes that the most popular 
of all that came under his observation was "When the Roll is 
Called Up Yonder." Continuing, he says: 

"There is sometliing singular and gripping in the way the men in khaM 
sing this soul-stirring hymn. The -writer never expects to hear "When the 
Roll is Called Up Yonder" ajgain without its words and tune bringing to 
mind long rows of khaki-clad men singing with glowing energy and shining 
faces the militant strain: 

" 'When the trumpet of the Lord shall isound, and time shall be no more. 
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair; 
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore, 
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.' " 

■ NAMES 

HEAED FOR MANY MILES. 

Many of the American big guns used in France had names 
of their own, bestowed upon them by the men of their batteries. 
One gun that pounded away at the German communications 
behind St. Mi hi el was named *' Wilson's Answer." It is inter- 
esting to note that "Wilson's Answer" was heard all over Lor- 
raine. 

ENOUGH TO GO ROUND. 

The odd names of towns and cities in the war zone afforded 
Americans considerable difficulty in pronunciation. At the same 
time many a pun was made because of this condition. The New 
York Herald, in commenting upon a cablegram announcing that 
"the French have taken Somme Py," said: "But Field Marshal 
Haig and General Pershing managed to get a few pieces." 

WHY SENTRY WAS GENEROUS. 

American soldiers found the French names — especially when 
pronounced correctly — rather difficult to remember. A New York 



196 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

paper says that an Alabama regiment was given the name of the 
French town of Armandvilliers for a countersign one night. 

A soldier who approached one of the sentries along _.toward 
midnight was promptly challenged. 

"A friend with the countersign," he replied in proper form. 

"Advance and give the countersign," directed the sentry. 

The soldier stepped forward, began scratching his head sheep- 
ishly, and at last blurted out: 

"Dumed if I ain't forgot it!" 

After a slight pause, the sentry, himself evidently perplexed, 
generously replied: 

"So have I. Pass, friend!" 

COMFORTING THE KAISEE. 

A writer in the Christian Endeavor World contributed the 
following, which was vsrritten before the Kaiser abdicated, but 
when it was clear he was losing the war: 

Dear Kaisee: — I see from your recent note that you are afraid the Al- 
lies, if you grant them an armistice, may insist on terms that ■would soil the 
honor of the noble and world-beloved name of Germany 1 

Be assured, dear Kaiser I It is not now in the power of man to tar- 
nish the German name. Tour armies and your brave and daring fleet have 
polished that name until all the world wonders at its shining splendor I 
ThinK of the noble deeds of your soldiers 1 Did they not astound a gaping 
world by the use of poison gas? Did they not burn their foes to cinders 
by the efficient application of flaming oil? Have they not poisoned wells? 
Have they not made themselves terrible by looting villages and towns, vio- 
lating womanhood, and driving both men and women into captivity? 

Think, too, of the valorous deeds of your navy I Has it not the "Lusi- 
tania" to its credit, and a long list of hospital ships, and the lives of 15,000 
civilians who dared defy your command to keep off the open sea ? 

Tarnish the German name, dear Kaiser? How is it possible to tarnisli 
a name like that, or defile honor so supremely sublime ? No ; the German 
has achieved a place in the world's history which he can never lose. As 
the vulgar might say, the German honor is pickled. ~ 

Had the Kaiser and his followers acted upon the truth that 
"a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," the 
greed that prompted the iniquitous war for theft on such a 
gigantic scale would never have been manifested. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 197 

NEGROES 

NEGEOES DON'T LIKE THE DAEK. 

A white American officer in charge of a company of negro 
soldiers in France could not say enough in praise of their courage 
and fighting qualities — in the daytime. 

"The only trouble with them," he said, "is in their ability 
in the dead of night to 'see things that ain't.' " 

The negro's timidity at night is illustrated by the experience 
of a captain who found one at work in the dark, violently carry- 
ing on a conversation with himself. To the query of the aston- 
ished captain as to what he meant, he explained that he felt less 
lonely and frightened if he pretended that a white officer was 
there giving him orders. 

Another officer found some difficulty in keeping his negro 
soldiers awake after some of the strenuous fighting. When he 
took out a patrol party he had the negroes link hands, and kept 
them awake by pressing the hand next to him. The pressure 
was passed along the line and back, indicating that all were 
awake. 

THE NEGEO AND THE MULE. 

An Alabama negro, in charge of some mules with the Amer- 
ican army in France, had an exciting experience with one of 
the animals. The incident was reported by a companion: 

"I just couldn't get along wid dat mule," he said. "De 
others was all right. Dis one, why, he bit me in de finger. 
Den when I was 'zaminin' mah finger, he up and kick me in de 
pants. Jes' about dat time dose bush Germans started one o' 
dem gas attacks. I was s 'posed to put de masks on de mules 
and den on me. I put de masks on all but dis one, but course 
he wouldn't stand. Well, sah, dat mule and me pranced aroun' 
in de gas foh two houahs, and believe me, sah, nuffin' evah hap- 
pened to dat mule at all 1 " 



198 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

A COLOR THAT WOULDN^T RUN. 

To one encampment in France wliere there were 5,000 Amer- 
ican negroes, General Pershing sent word that he wanted 1,500 
men for a particularly dangerous mission. The 5,000 were lined 
up, and this statement made to them: 

"Every man who is wiUing to volunteer in this undertaking, 
take one step forward." 

The whole 5,000 took the step — ^and the officers had to finally 
select the number needed. Then the men all enthusiastically 
shouted one of their slogans: 

"Fast black — won't run!" 

OPTIMISM 

THE DESTRUCTION OF RHEIMS. 

One of the richest and most beautiful cities of all France— 
Rheims — was greatly coveted by the Germans, but they were 
never able to take it. They were only able to ruin it. Here 
was one of the most complete of their fiendish jobs in France. 
Says a war correspondent: 

Baltimore or San Trancisco after their great fires were only slightly 
damaged compared to Rheims. Here every roof and tree, every form of 
habitation, had been flattened or punched through by giant shells, until 
the whole thing amounted to total destruction. 

When the Germans were forced to surrender, the former 
inhabitants of Rheims streamed back to the city with anxious 
hearts. Many had left vrithout taking time to pack up any 
belongings. They found tables standing all set for meals that 
were never eaten, just as they had left them when to remain 
another moment would have endangered their lives. IBig shells 
had gone through the bedrooms, tearing and scattering the clothes 
of men, women and children far and wide. The scene of desola- 
tion was complete, but the inhabitants took up the thread of life 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 1199 

there again with an optimism and courage that were truly won- 
derful. 

CAERIEE-PIGEONS HIS GAUGE. . 

It is well for one to feel that his work is of consequence, even 
though others do not attach to it the same importance. This 
statement is illustrated by an incident during the great war. A 
general was making an inspection, and came to a sergeant whose 
duty it was to look after carrier-pigeons. The general asked him 
how the war was going there. 

"All right," was the optimistic reply. *'In the last few 
days the Germans have lost seven carrier-pigeons and we have 
lost only two." 

A BLIND SOLDIEE^S GEATITUDE. 

A man who lost the use of both eyes in the war spoke of his 
aflaiction as follows: 

Here I am, tMrty-six years of age, in the pride of health, strength and 
energy, and suddenly stricken blind I And what are my feelings? Even 
snch a catastrophe does not appall me. I can no longer drive, run, or fol- 
low any of the vigorous sports, and I shall miss all these things; yet I 
am not depressed. 

Am I not better off than he who was born blind? I can talk to my 
friends, knowing what they look like, and, by their conversation, read the 
expression on their faces. I never knew before that life was so beautiful. 
You must be dead to understand what life is worth. 

PATRIOTISM 

SHE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND. 

Sadie Dellon, a thirteen-year-old New York Jewish girl, took 
her own life by drinking poison, because she claimed some boys 
insulted her Jewish flag. 

In the neighborhood where she lived was a display of flags 
as a tribute to the men there who had enlisted, and Sadie put 
her little flag out on a fire-escape, in honor of her Jewish brother 



200 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

serving in France with Uncle Sam's forces, not knowing but 
what it was all right to put it in the position she had chosen. 

It happened that it was higher than the "Stars and Stripes." 
Boys on the street took exception to this, perhaps thinking the 
incident was intentional, and stoned and jeered the little Jewish 
flag, besides striking the girl. She didn't seem to care for her- 
self, but what hurt her most is indicated in the following note 
found by her dead body: 

**I can not see my flag insulted. Good-by, all.*' 

EXPENSIVE WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. 

As a fitting celebration of their fiftieth wedding anniversary, 
Mr. and Mrs. George H. Collins, of Oakland, California, sub- 
scribed $50,000 toward the fourth Liberty Loan — $1,000 for each 
year of happy wedded life. 

SERVICE FLAG IN PRISON. 

The Oregon State Penitentiary officials were proud of a ser- 
vice flag in that institution which contained forty stars when 
the war closed, representing forty prisoners who had been paroled 
to enlist in the U. S. army or navy. They made good to such 
an extent that nearly every one of them was restored to citizen- 
ship by the Governor of Oregon. 

SERVICE FLAG TRANSFORMS WHOLE BLOCK. 

Shortly before the war closed there had enlisted from one 
block in New York City over one hundred young men. This 
block is on West Thirty-eighth Street, whose east and west 
boundaries are Ninth and Tenth Avenues. There was a soap 
factory and other good-sized plants in the block, so in density 
of population it did not compare with others in that city. This 
made its enlistment of so many men all the more remarkable. 

B. W. Babcock, in writing of the unusual incident, said that 
everywhere one looked he would see service flags in the home 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 201 

windows; also that there were only women and children to be 
seen, with here and there an old man. The visitor also saw that 
the humble residents had suspended a huge service flag above 
the roadway from the factory wall across to the opposite tene- 
ment, with a star on it for each young man who had enlisted. 

This created a wonderful community spirit seldom found 
even in small towns. It bound the people together. How this 
was done was shown in the remark of a woman who lived there, 
when questioned about it: 

**I never liked this block until they put up that big service 
flag. I've lived here in the same rooms sixteen years. My 
husband died here and some of my children were born here. 
But now it seems just like some sort of a town, where all the 
people are kind to one another, and nobody tries to put on airs 
with anybody else." 

PERSEVERANCE 

GOES SEVENTEEN THOUSAND MILES TO ENLIST. 

Fred Fauquirer, whose nearest relatives resided in Seattle, 
while he was serving as manager of a great rubber estate in the 
Malay peninsula, made the trip of seventeen thousand miles in 
order to enlist in the U. S. army. 

THE WOUNDED ''GOING BACK." 

*'The walking wounded soldiers were always a source of 
wonder to me," said George W. Titus, of Indiana, after return- 
ing from T. M. C. A. work in France. 

"I can not imagine how some of our boys managed to make 
their way back to the dressing-stations without assistance. I 
saw one plucky American soldier, with both arms dangling help- 
less, and I know that only by supreme nerve was he overcoming 
the pain he suffered. Yet I heard him tell two stretcher-bearers 



202 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

not to mind Mm, but to keep on and bring in the fellows whose 
legs couldn't bring them." 

ONE-LEGGED SOLDIER'S LOYALTY. 

Despite all rules and regulations, a one-legged man waa 
accepted for the U. S. army, in June, 1918. After being rejected 
by his local board and turned down time after time as he tried 
in different ways to get in the service, he was at last admitted. 
He insisted he was an expert hoisting engineer and could operate 
two hoisting-engines at once. He was detailed to Vancouver, 
Washington, to assist in getting out spruce timber for airplanes. 

The persistence of this man to do something to help win the 
war was in sharp contrast with some instances of able-bodied 
slackers who endeavored to shirk every responsibility in that line. 

TO THE END OF THE TRAIL. 

In the fighting near Serigny, France, during the advance 
around Fere-en-Tardenois, a Sioux Indian chief belonging to 
one of the American divisions fell mortally wounded. One of 
the chief's Indian comrades, a graduate of Carlisle Indian Col- 
lege and a lieutenant in the service, was with him, and stopped 
to render any help possible. The dying Sioux, although con- 
scious, refused attention, realizing he could not live, but exhorted 
his fellow-soldiers: 

"Go on to the end of the trail." 

Who can say but what the wonderful courage of the American 
soldier is not in part an inheritance from the land over which 
the brave American Indians so long roamed and hunted in their 
v?ild freedom? 

MAIL-BAG PIERCED BY SHELL. 

Notwithstanding the difficulties to be encountered, mail waa 
delivered to many American soldiers in France, right up in the 
front-line trenches. Mail orderlies were frequently under Are, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 203 

but went ahead with their work as carefully as though delivering 
mail on a quiet street in an American city. 

One bag of letters was pierced several times by machine-gun 
fire as it was being carried up to the men in the front lines. 

A WILD DASH FOR WATER. 

Sometimes our American boys in France got very thirsty. 
On one occasion a soldier in khaki saw ahead of him a barrel 
of water, and was making for it with his canteen cup, anticipat- 
ing a much-desired drink, when a piece of a shell punctured the 
barrel. Making a wild dash for it, he succeeded in filling his 
cup just as the last drop leaked away. 

"It was more exciting," said he, "than rushing for shelter 
under machine-gun fire. And I don't think I ever ran so fast 
in my life." 

WORRIED ABOUT THE MESSAGE. 

Private Grant G, Speer, Jr., of Los Angeles, a youth of only 
eighteen, was out with a detail in France to maintain bridges 
over a line of trenches for the passing of artillery, when the 
sector underwent a furious shelling for fourteen hours. Between 
the detail and company headquarters shells were falling so' fast 
it seemed impossible for any one to go through. 

The sergeant wrote a message to the captain, asking for a 
relief detail, and looked at young Speer. The youth sprang to 
his feet, took the message and started. On the way he was 
severely wounded in the thigh by a piece of shrapnel, but stum- 
bled on until he was stopped at a dressing-station. He would 
not let the attendants treat him until another courier had been 
started on the way. Even after his wounds had been given 
attention, he was worrying about the message, so finally these 
words were sent to the boy's sergeant: 

"Speer is getting along fine, but for goodness' sake write 
to him and tell him the message got through to the captain all 



204 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

right, and the detail was relieved. He worries about that all the 
time. ' ' 

SOME "IFS" FOE THE SOLDIER. 

The following poem, signed "D. H. W.," appeared in the 
Trouble Buster, published at the United States General Hospital, 
No. 6, during the war: 

"If you can hold your head up while the others 

Are drooping theirs from marches and fatigue; 
If you can drill in dust that clouds and smothers, 

And still be fit to hike another league ; 
If you can stand the greasy food and dishes, 

The long black nights, the lonesome roads, the blues; 
If you can choke back all the gloomy wishes 

Tor home that seem to spring right from your shoes; 
If you can laugh at sick-call and the pill-boys 

When all the other lads are checking in ; 
If you can kid and jolly all the kill-joys, 

Whose faces long ago forgot to grin ; 
If at parade you stand fast at attention, 

When every muscle shrieks aloud with pain ; 
If you can grin and snicker at the mention 

Of some bone play connected with your name; 
If you succeed to keep your knees from knocking 

At the thoughts of all the bullets you may stop; 
If you can do these things and really like 'em — 

You'll be a reg'lar soldier yet, old topi" 

WOUNDED OFFICER'S SLOGAN. 

During the German retreat from the Marne, in 1918, an 
American officer who was leading the advance fell seriously 
wounded. His men stopped. His presence meant so much to 
them. Every one wanted to attend his wounds. Instantly he 
sensed the situation, and by a supreme effort, raising himself a 
few inches from the ground, cried out with his last particle of 
strength : 

''Keep a-going, boys, keep a-going!" 

His men burst into cheers and rushed forward to the attack, 
keeping in mind his words. All that day, and for several days 
after in the fierce fightiug that followed, the slogan he had 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 205 

given tkem was shouted from one to tlie other: ''Keep a-going, 
boys, keep a-going!" 

HEAD BANDAGED, BUT AIMED WELL. 

One of the pluckiest incidents of the great battle that raged 
on top of the Ourcq Hills in Franc© is related of an Irish cor- 
poral with the American troops, known to his comrades as 
*^ Jerry." He was severely wounded in the head and was 
impatient while a man from the hospital corps dressed his 
wounds. When the hospital man had iinished, Jerry's head 
resembled a bundle of some kind more than the thinking part 
of a human being. All that could be seen of his head was his 
left eye, but this was shining bright. He was placed by the 
side of the road to await his turn to be taken to the rear in 
the ambulance. 

A few minutes later a lieutenant caught Jerry sneaking back 
toward the front with a rifle he had managed to secure in some 
way. 

"Just ten minutes," he begged of the officer; *'just give me 
ten minutes. I haven't killed one yet, and I must. Please, 
Lieutenant, just ten minutes." 

Fifteen minutes later he came back to the hospital clearing- 
station, that one eye twinkling as he called out joyously: 

"I got mine — three of 'em, and they never moved after I 
plugged 'em ! ' ' 

He was then content to receive the care his serious condition 
required. 

SAMPLE OF U. S. NAVY GRIT. 

That the American navy should undertake and put through 
by its own exertions such a task as laying an oil pipe-line all 
the way across Scotland, in order to expedite the delivery of fuel 
oil to our ships in the North Sea, seems an amazing achievement, 
yet it did that very thing in the summer of 1918. Even this, 



206 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

however, was but part of a larger task which involved the plant- 
ing of a mine field so great as to practically bar the North Sea 
against German submarines. 

KING ALBERT'S PROPHECY. 

The return of King Albert to his capital, at Brussels, Bel- 
gium, riding at the head of his victorious army, on November 
22, 1918, after the Germans had been conquered, was the ful- 
fillment of a prophecy uttered by him on December 20, 1914, 
after he and his people had been driven before the oncoming 
hordes of Huns. 

In an interview with a correspondent of the Associated Press, 
given at the king's headquarters in West Flanders, on that date, 
the reporter said: 

"Your Majesty, it has been predicted that you wiU re-enter 
your capital within three months." 

The king sadly shook his head, saying: 

"Not so soon, but some day I shall ride into Brussels at the 
head of the Belgian army." 

Instead of three months, it was almost four long, weary years 
of fighting, suffering persecutions and cruelties undreamed of in 
the beginning, but never for an instant did the brave king or 
his courageous people falter in the task of checking and driving 
back the beasts from Germany who had torn up the treaty with 
the little nation, calling it nothing but a scrap of paper. 

Whatever part other nations played in the great war, it will 
forever stand out in history that but for the courage and per- 
severance of the Belgians, the whole course of the war might 
have been entirely different. 

AMERICANS IN AUSTRALIAN UNIFORMS. 

Just before one of the big battles in France a British com- 
mander in charge of a certain section felt that some of the 
American troops had not been long enough in training to go over 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 207 

the top, and ordered them out of the'line. With much protesting 
the American soldiers retired — apparently. But when the 
wounded were being cared for after the battle, American sol- 
diers were found in the dressing-stations attired in Australian 
uniforms. 

It developed that the Americans, after going to the rear, had 
found Australians who were not to be in the fight, so exchanged 
uniforms with them, and hurried back to the front. 

One newspaper, in commenting upon the pluck of the Yankee 
lads and of their grit in the hour of danger, stated that while 
it was not definitely known, it was supposed that these were 
among the sixteen Chicago boys decorated by King George for 
special daring. 

ITALIAN CHIVALRY IN THE WAR. 

Gabrielle d'Annunzio, though fifty-four years of age, did some 
remarkable things in the war. He mounted his swift-flying 
aeroplane, and, with companion aviators, flew seven hundred 
miles to Vienna, There he dropped, not bombs on the enemy, 
but white notes containing a satiric challenge that must have 
burned the Huns with shame. 

Again, he went with a motor-boat detachment from the 
Italian navy to raid the bay of Buechari. An Austrian ship 
was blown up and other damage done. In the water the Aus- 
trains later found three bottles bearing the Italian colors. Each 
bottle contained this message: 

The Italian navy laughs at every kind of barricade and net, and is 
always ready to dare the impossible. "With them has come as companion 
one whom yon well know, your principal enemy and the most bitter ; to 
laugh at the price you have placed on his head — Gabrielle d'Annunzio. 

Another Italian of humbler birth, but with the same splendid 

daring, that is enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen, was 

Enrico Toti, the one-legged philosopher, who would not be denied 

a place on the firing-line because of his infirmity. Widely known 

14 



208 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

throughout Italy before the war, he was able to induce the Duke 
of Aosta to accept him as a soldier. 

After many valorous exploits he died fighting, and as he fell 
he hurled his crutch, to which was attached a spearhead, at the 
enemy. A soldier comrade, who raised him from the ground, 
says that with his dying breath he uttered the little phrase with 
which he always closed his post-cards to his home: "Kisses for 
mother. ' ' 

The home-loving Italians fought so valiantly because they 
were fighting to defend their homes. It would require volumes 
to record all of their wonderful deeds. As long as history is 
handed down to succeeding generations, the marvelous feat of 
capturing 600,000 Austrian prisoners during the closing days 
of the war will stand out as one of the most spectacular feats of 
this greatest of all wars. 

"THE MINISTER OF THE BEOOM." 

A preacher who went from America to France to engage in 
Y. M. C. A. war work was expected by those who knew him 
best to be a great power for good. He was, but not in the way 
anticipated. 

Emergency put him in an old warehouse, where all sorts of 
Y. M, C. A. supplies were kept. The place was as uninviting 
as could be imagined — dirty, dusty, with cobwebs in the corners. 
The first thing he did was to buy a broom, and he used it so 
effectively that when the divisional secretary came that way the 
next time, he was amazed, and exclaimed: 

' ' You have wrought a miracle here ! ' ' 

Not only had the preacher cleaned up the place, but he had 
arranged the goods so orderly and systematically that it was a^ 
delight to do business there for those who came to take the 
goods out to the various canteens. 

Yes, he became "the minister of the broom," and far more. 
His influence in helping young soldiers with whom he came in 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 209 

contact to "clean up" and keep clean, personally, as he was 
doing with the old warehouse, soon became apparent to the work- 
ers in that region. 

He did so many things to win their hearts. Here is just 
a typical case: 

One day he noticed a strange sadness among several men in 
khaki. A comrade had died, he learned. It was in the pioneer 
days. The troops were on a forced march, and no arrangements 
had been made for such an emergency. The comrades told him 
the boy would have to be buried without a coffin, and this 
made them doubly sad. 

"They shall never put an American boy in the ground with- 
out a decent burial," said he positively, "if there's a coffin 
to be had anywhere in this part of France." 

He went straight to the telephone, and learned he could get 
a coffin, but it was many miles away. That made no difference 
to him. Nearly all that night he\ sat at the wheel of a Ford 
machine, and through the mud and the dark he went on and on. 
When morning came he was back with the coffin, but worn and 
tired. 

There was no chaplain, but again he was equal to the emer- 
gency. He conducted the funeral himself. The comrades who 
heard him as he stood at the foot of the open grave of the 
American lad sleeping there will never forget the words of love 
and comfort and faith spoken by the good man, "the minister 
of the broom." 

''IT SHALL BE DONE." 

"Where there's a will there's a way," has often been quoted, 
but is not always true. Germany had a will to rule the world. 
She didn't succeed. America and the other Allies had a will 
that right must rule — and it did, and always will. It is too late 
in the day of the world's progress for any one nation or com- 
bination of nations to conquer on the theory that "might makes 



210 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

right," The reverse is now true — "Right la Might." Some 
one has put the thought into rhyme: 

"It shall be done I" a country said. 
And swept a little land with dread; 
The martyred slain she brushed aside, 
Remorseless, trod on joy and pride. 
Crushed honor, broken in the dust; 
Betrayed her every word and trust. 
Then sneering said, "When speaks the Hun, 
This thing to do — it shall be donel" 

"It shaU be donel" A nation spoke; 

East, West and North and South awoke 1 

That oath went out across the sea! 

That vow was pledged to Liberty 1 
"It shall be done," but not as he 

Had visions of the victory! 

On swift-winged feet the word did run, 
"The day is ours! It has been donel" 

SIX DAYS WITHOUT SLEEP. 

The awful body-weariness in war can hardly be realized, even 
by persons with the most vivid imagination, according to those 
who have passed through this experience at the front in !France. 
That many were "tired almost to death" is no exaggeration. 
5ere is an instance related by a war correspondent: 

The Highlanders of the Fifty-first Division are as tough as any men in 
the British armies, yet some of their oflicers told me that on the last lap 
of their rear-guard actions they were tired almost to death, and when 
called on to make one last effort after six days and nights of fighting and 
marching, many of them staggered up like men who had been chloroformed, 
with dazed eyes and gray and drawn faces, speechless, deaf to the words 
spoken to them, blind to the menace about them, seemingly at the last 
grip of strength. 

One general said his men were so nearly exhausted that being 
attacked was the only thing that kept them awake: 

Toward the end of this fighting they slept standing with their heada 
falling against the parapet, slept sitting hunched in ditches, slept like 
dead men when they lay on the open ground. But they waked again when 
•the enemy attacked once more, and fought and killed him, . then immediat«ly 
dozed off again. These men wer« tired to the point of death. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 2J2 

A French officer asked a British officer for troops to help in 
certain critical operations, -and the latter 'explained that his men 
had just gone to sleep — the first sleep they had had for six days. 
Nevertheless, they were aroused, and, when they learned the situ- 
ation, went to the task cheerfully, singing, and held the line 
thirty-six hours more! 

THE WONDEEFUL LIBEETY MOTOE. 

Jesse Gurney Vincent, aged thirty-eight, working for the 
Packard Motor Company, in Detroit, is the inventor of the 
Liberty motor, which was adopted by the United States Govern- 
ment in 1918 for use in the aeroplanes which were shipped to 
France by the score to help win the war. 

Vincent, believing that air-fighting would prove an important 
part in the conflict, worked persistently for nearly three years, 
improving on anything then known in the world in the way of 
motors for fi[ying-machines. The firm for which he worked spent 
$400,000 on his experiments before he made a motor with which 
he was satisfied — and every one informed on the subject con- 
sidered it time and money well spent. 

The inventor gave up a good position in a store in St. Louis 
and put on overalls to work in a machine-shop. One promotion 
after another followed in rapid succession, for he was in earnest. 
He became chief engineer of the Packard Motor Company, and 
later vice-president of the corporation. 

AMAZING COUEAGE OF AIEMEN. 

Two British aviators, who had scarcely laid aside their school- 
books when the war began, had a most unusual experience while 
in the war air service. The incident is told by a war correspon- 
dent of the New York Eerald: 

The two youthful airmen had successfully aided in bombing 
a German munition factory, but, on the journey back to their 
own lines, got lost in a terrific thunder-storm and +heir two-seated 



212 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 



aeroplane was separated from the squadron. As their compass 
had been smashed by a stray bullet, they were at a loss how to 
proceed, but kept going on blindly for an hour. Finally they 
were compelled to land, for the tanks were practically empty. 

There was absolutely nothing to indicate on which side of the 
battle-line they had landed. While the pilot stood guard over 
the machine the observer reconnoitered. After walking several 
hundred yards he struck a road, and in the brush close by he 
decided to hide and await events. 

He was not kept long in suspense, for soon the rumble and 
zug-zug-zug-zug of a heavy motor-truck fell upon his ears. He 
could not see it through the mist until it was almost by the spot 
where he was hiding. The engine was evidently in bad shape 
from the way it was sounding, and all of a sudden the big truck 
stopped! By this time the observer could see the entire outfit; 
there were two men — Germans! He and his partner had come 
down within the enemy lines! 

Eemembering that his aeroplane was out of petrol, his heart 
leaped with joy at the possibility of getting a supply from the 
motor-truck — ^but how? That was the serious question. He waa 
thinking rapidly and decided to act quickly. Grasping his pistol, 
he rushed out upon the men and shouted: 

' ' Hands up, gentlemen ! ' ' 

The astonished Huns looked as if they could not believe 
their eyes. Where did this young Englishman come from? At 
any rate, they instantly obeyed his command. Then he forced 
them, by signs and brandished pistol, to each get a tin of petrol, 
and march ahead of him to the aeroplane, where the tanks were 
replenished. While the pilot still stood guard, now of the ma- 
chine and the two captured Huns, the observer ran back to the 
big motor-truck, sprinkled a lot of petrol over it, touched a 
match, and the blaze soon did the rest. Hastening to his partner, 
they mounted the areoplane, and as they darted quickly forward 
the observer waved the dismayed Germans farewell. The two 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 213 

young aviators reached their own aerodrome half an hour later, 
to the great joy of the entire squadi'on, who had given them up 
as lost. 

"AS THE TEUCKS GO ROLLIN' BY." 

One of the outstanding features of the great war, as described 
by many soldiers and others in France, was the constant, cease- 
less stream of great trucks hauling men, supplies and ammunition 
to the fighting-lines on the western front. L. W. Suckert, a 
lieutenant in the TJ. S. army, pictures the scene thus: 

"There's a nimble an' a jumble an' a bumpin' an' a thud, 
As I waken from my restless sleep here in my bed o' mud, 
Then I pull my blankets tighter underneath my shelter fly. 
An' I listen to the thunder o' the trucks a-rollin' by. 

"They're a-jumpin' an' they're humpin' through the inky gloom o' night. 
An' I wonder how them drivers see without a gleam o' light; 
I can hear the clutches roarin' as they throw the gears in high, 
An' the radiators boilin' as the trucks go rollin' by. 

"There's some a-draggin' cannons, you can spot the sound all right — 
The rumblin' ones is heaviest, and the rattly ones is light; 
The clinkin' shells is pointin' up their noses at the sky — 
Oh, you can tell what's passin' as the trucks go rollin' by. 

"But most of 'em is paekin' loads o' human Yankee freight 
That'll slam the old soft pedal on to Heinle's Hymn o' Hate; 
You can hear 'em singin' 'Dixie,' an' 'The Sweet Bye and Bye,' 
An' 'Where Do We Go from Here, Boys?' as the trucks go rollin' by. 

"So, although my bed is puddles an' I'm soaked through to the hide. 
My heart's out with them doughboys on their bouncin', singin' ride. 
They're bound for paths o' glory, or, p'raps, to fight an' die — 
God bless that Yankee cargo in the truck a-roUin' by." 

PERSONAL 

WHEN SORROW COMES HOME. 

*'Iii union there is strength." While sorrow is always a 
very personal matter when one of our loved ones is taken away 
by death, yet we seem to find strength in the consciousness that 



214 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

many others know from experience just how to sympathize with 
us. 

The thought that many thousands gave their lives in the 
great war should not, however, cause us to be any less tender 
and sympathetic in our attitude toward a friend or neighbor 
whose son made the supreme sacrifice. This poem by Susan Hub- 
bard Martin, entitled "The Casualty List," wUl help us to 
realize how personal the sorrow may become: 

"Only one of onr boys lost Ms young life to-day, 
In that battle o'erseas, you complacently say. 
As the casualty list in the paper you scan — 
'Tis not much, you remark, to have lost but one man. 

"But listen — a mother reads, far, far away. 
Of that boy who was killed in the trenches to-day. 
And she falls on her knees with a stricken, hurt moan. 
For that boy who was slain was her son, hers alone I 

"And the casualty list that you thought was so small 
Is as large as the world, for it's taken her aU; 
And her anguished heart breaks, as she views through her tears 
The desolate future — ^the long, weary years. 

"Only one of our boys lost his young life to-day, 
In that battle o'erseas, you complacently say. 
But to one bereaved soul the list is not small; 
It's as large as the world — for it's taken her all." 

THE OLD ''TIGEE" OT FRANCE. 

Many were the evidences during the war of the wisdom of 
the words, "Old men for counsel, young men for war.'* 

The mighty leaders, who thought out the plans, were men of 
age and gray hairs. The great armies of millions which executed 
those plans were made up very largely of young men. 

One of the most conspicuous and forceful characters in the 
war counsels was M. Georges Clemenceau, Premier of France, in 
his seventy-seventh year when the war closed. Every Frenchman 
adores his white-haired Premier under the nickname of "Tiger." 

Along with his other activities he was editor of a great 
paper, and in its columns breathed forth words of courage and 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 215 

determination that were an inspiration to tens of tkousanda. 
Nothing aroused within him more indignation than the idea that 
France must, try to keep in the good graces of the Kaiser of 
Germany. . On one occasion, after a serious crisis in which the 
German Emperor had been disposed to show the ''mailed flst" 
toward France, Clemenceau said in his paper : ' 

What is quite intolerable is the pretension to make the whole world 
tremble when the Kaiser knits his brows, and to expect us to rejoice effu- 
sively when his Imperial Majesty condescends to favor us with a smile. 
The peace of Europe can not be based upon the changeable disposition of 
this sovereign. To-day he is in a good humor; so much the better. To- 
morrow he will be in a bad humor; that is his own affair. For our part, 
we need a guaranty for our speculations as to the future which is inde- 
pendent of any one man. 

These words proved little short of prophetic. The Kaiser 
has been eliminated from the position where he could make mil- 
lions tremble or smile, as he might choose. 

M. Clemenceau was first elected Premier of France in 1906, 
serving until 1909. It was a fine compliment to his ability that, 
in the period of greatest stress his country ever faced, he was, 
in November, 1917, called to fill that place once more. Then 
an unforgettable scene was enacted in the French Chamber of 
Deputies, when he spoke of France as "bloody in her glory," 
and hurled forth the words: "I have but one war aim — to win, 
to win ! ' ' 

His words produced a scene of the wildest enthusiasm. 

His love of liberty is recalled in an incident of his youth. 
When only nineteen he was thrown into prison for shouting: 
"Vive la Bepuilique!" 

Americans admire him for many things, but one in particular 
— ^he married an American girl. 

FAMILY HEROISM AND SOEEOW. 

In many a family made sad by the loss of some member 
in the war, is also a feeling of justifiable pride, because that 



216 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 



one proved brave and true in the testing-time. This is all pathet- 
ically shown in the following extracts from a letter from Cor- 
poral William Porter, of New York, to his parents: 

You have no doubt heard of the death of brother. He died as a Por- 
ter should die, while ^oing over the top. We had been over five times to- 
gether. It came near driving me insane when he fell at my side, and I 
had to continue the advance or be classed as a coward. You may be sure 
we drove the Germans back and then returned to bury our dead. Brother 
was buried on the battlefield, and taps were sounded over his grave, to- 
gether with those of a number of others from our outfit. 

A SEEMON TO ONE MAN. 

Dr. E. Combie Smith, pastor of the Maple Avenue M. E, 
Church in St. Louis, while serving with the Y. M. C. A. forces 
in France, came upon a man who was severely wounded, and 
stopped to make him as comfortable as possible. When the 
soldier learned that the one who was so kindly ministering to 
him was a preacher, he said wistfully: 

"I would give almost anything to hear a sermon again." 
Dr. Smith, in writing to a friend of the incident, said: 

I was so touched by his appeal that I stood there before him and de- 
livered a sermon from beginning to end, just as though I was talking to 
a great audience. It was heart-touching, for there was one candle glimmer- 
ing in the rude dugout, and we could hear the sound of distant shells 
bursting. I never had an audience follow me more closely than he did. 

Those who have the privilege of frequently hearing sermons 
and of attending church services should reflect upon this incident. 
Do we appreciate the great value of these things in our lives? 
"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: 
for they shall be filled." 

This poor, wounded, lonely soldier was hungry for a sermon, 
when he had been deprived of the privilege of hearing one for 
some time. Our need of God's message is just as great as was 
his, even though in the midst of peaceable surroundings, 
for every circumstance in life brings its own peculiar battles to 
be fought. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 217 

PRECAUTION 

TWO KINDS OF BONGS. 

Two down-South negroes with the American army in France 
were resting in a shell hole when a German shell came whizzing 
over and exploded only a few yards away. 

"You heah dat baby sing, Buddy?" queried one, as he stuck 
his head up over the edge of the hole. 

"I sho did," the other replied; "but you all gwine ter heah 
de angels sing if you don't get dat ole black noodle of yourn 
down! " 

THE COOK WANTED TO WAKE UP. 

During the severe fighting in the St. Mihiel salient, an officer, 
passing a portable kitchen one night, saw the cook winding an 
alarm-clock, and setting it to go ofE at a certain time. It was 
when the roar of bursting shells from fiery-throated guns was 
continuous, and sleep seemed out of the question. This made 
the act of the cook seem all the more strange, so the officer 
asked : 

"What's the big idea? What are you setting the alarm- 
clock for?" 

"I want to be sure of waking up when the boys go over the 
top in the morning," he replied in a matter-of-fact manner. 

This instance shows the power of habit. The cook had accus- 
tomed himself to sleep when battles raged with almost deafening 
noise, and to wake up when a tiny alarm-clock rang out its 
little call. 

NAILING THE KAISEE. 

Sometimes great damage was liable from just one small nail 
in the war zone. A writer says that one nail can disrupt an 
entire modern anny, for in sending troops and supplies to the 
front, with every detail of every means of conveyance carefully 



218 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

planned, the slightest hitdi, such as a tire with a nail through, 
it, may cause delay in the execution ol the whole program. 

As a precaution against such an occurrence, the allied com- 
manders had boxes placed every half-mile or so, bearing a large 
sign reading: "Pick Up Every Nail." 

PREFERENCE 

THE GRAVES OF DEAD SOLDIERS. 

There was a division of sentiment at the close of the war 
as to bringing home the bodies of our American soldiers who 
had fallen in France, although the great majority of parents 
and other relatives desired that this be done. 

Those who did not feel thus about it were no doubt well 
represented in their sentiments on the subject as expressed by 
Colonel and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, whose son Quentin was 
killed in an air fight on July 14, 1918, and buried in France 
with military honors by German aviators. 

In October, 1918, Colonel Roosevelt wrote to P. C. March, 
General Chief of Staff of the U. S. army, protesting against the 
removal of the body of their son, saying: "We have always 
believed that 'where the tree falls, there let it lie.' " Continu- 
ing, he wrote: 

We know that many good persons feel entirely different, but to us it 
is painful and harrowing, long after death, to remove the poor body from 
which the soul has fled. We greatly prefer that Quentin shall continue to 
lie on the spot where he fell in battle and where the foemen buried him. 

General March, in reply, stated he was in sympathy with the 
view expressed, but that the policy of the Government would be 
to bring all bodies home, except in cases where parents or other 
relatives desired that the remains be left where they had fallen. 

Intimate friends of Colonel Roosevelt expressed the belief 
that his sudden death, which occurred at his home at Oyster 
Bay, New York, on January 6, 1919, was hastened or partially 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 219 

due to grief over the death of hia son Quentin. The Colonel was 
sixty years of age. 

PREFERRED GERMAN SHELLS. 

An. American soldier in France — ^presumably from a part of 
the country where electric storms are rare — was compelled to 
make a hard march with his comrades through a dense forest, 
at night, with raiu coming down in torrents, while lightning 
flashed here and there, and the thunder pealed out with alarm- 
ing nearness. 

"I ain't afraid of the German shells," said this infantry- 
man, as he slipped and slid about in the mud on the road, "but 
I don't like that thunder and lightning I" 

PREPARATION 

PHYSICAL CARE OF OUR SOLDIERS. 

Dr. Woods Hutchinson, who visited one cantonment in America 
where 20,000 recruits were being trained for the great war over- 
seas, was astonished to find that in five months the men there 
had gained an average of fourteen pounds each, for the entire 
20,000 — or a total of 140 tons of human flesh. 

This, in view of the fact that the young men were in splendid 
physical condition when they arrived, coming from good homes, 
for the most part, where they had been well fed, is a striking 
demonstration of what intelligent, scientific attention to food, 
exercise and habits will do. 

The great lesson shown in this instance, which was no doubt 
only typical of all our army camps, should be taken to heart 
with profit to the whole nation in the proper care of every boy 
and girl, every young man and young woman growing up into 
the privileges of citizenship. The strong, clean, spiritual man or 
woman is the best citizen. 



220 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

GENERAL PERSHING'S BOYHOOD. 

The good Book says : ' ' Train up a child in the way he should 
go, and when he is old he will not depart therefrom." 

Gen. John J. Pershing, leader of the American armed forces 
in Prance, was born near Laclede, Missouri, September 13, 1860. 
C. C. Bigger, a boyhood friend, says of him: 

"He was clean in character, absolutely so, and a regular 
attendant at church and Sunday school at the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, of which he was a member and in which his father 
and mother were active workers. The boy was never tough. He 
never considered it necessary to seek questionable companions or 
places in order to have a good time." 

Charles E. Spurgeon, another boyhood friend, says of Persh- 
ing's boyhood days: 

"John was no sissy, even if he was clean and well behaved. 
He was a manly, upstanding boy. In his classes he had his les- 
sons, and when asked to work a problem he would step promptly 
to the blackboard and do it in a way that proved his heart was 
in the work." 

GENERAL FOCH'S LIFE TRAINING. 

Perhaps the world never had a greater lesson on the value 
of youthful ambitions being trained for a life-work than in the 
case of Gen. Ferdinand Foch, chosen as commander-in-chief of 
all the allied armies in the great war. 

Bom in the village of Tarbes, in Midi, August 4, 1851, he 
was sixty-seven years of age when he brought to a successful 
conclusion the greatest war in all history — and he did it because 
he was capable of doing it, not by any chance of fate. 

When the time came for him to decide on a career, he aston- 
ished his parents by choosing the military profession. From that 
time forth his whole period of schooling and training was along 
military lines. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 221 

The result of that early and thorough training is known 
around the world, and has made the name of Ferdinand Poch 
one of the great names of history. 

Boys and young men should specially remember that he 
obtained the wonderful victory for the allied armies and such 
undying fame because he was prepared for the great task when 
just such a leader was needed. 

PRISONERS 

GEEMANS ''DEESS UP" TO SUEEENDEE. 

Capt. Herman Gergens wrote a letter to a relative in America 
saying he had seen about 100,000 German prisoners in France, 
and related this incident: 

I had quite a talk with some young prisoners the other day, and they 
were very glad to have been taken. They said that when they heard the 
Americans were coming they put on their best clothes, threw away their 
gums and came over with a smile on their faces. 

AN ACCOMMODATING GEEMAN. 

Near the town of Baulny one hundred German prisoners were 
sent back from the lines under guard of a single American sol- 
dier — an Italian from New York, who spoke but little English. 
An officer of the tJ. S. army was trying to explain to him, by 
use of a map, how to get the captured men to a certain prison. 
The Italian couldn't understand him. 

The officer noticed a German major listening to the conver- 
sation, smiling, and said to him: 

"Do you speak English?" 

"I do," replied the German. 

"Can you understand this map?" continued the American. 

After a hasty glance at it, the major nodded and said, "I 
can. ' ' 



222 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

"Well, then, will you take charge of this bunch and march 
them to the prisoners' cage?" inquired the American officer. 

"I will," said the German, saluting courteously. 

Then he gave commands in his own language, and the prison- 
ers fell into a column of twos and marched away to the prison. 
There the German major turned them over to the astonished 
American officers in charge, and with them was made secure from 
escape. 

PROGRESS 

MODERN ENDING OF THE WAR. 

The wireless and the automobile played an important part 
in the ending of the war. The German High Command sent 
a message to General Foch by wireless, asking for an armistice. 
He replied in the same way, informing the Germans they could 
come at a certain time by such a road. 

One civilian, a nobleman and three German officers made the 
trip to Foch's headquarters in automobiles, taking along a troop 
of workmen to repair the roads as they went — roads that had 
been torn to pieces by the bursting shells. 

WITH THE PRESIDENT AT SEA. 

When President Wilson sailed for Europe on December 4, 
1918, to participate in the World Peace Conference, he was 
provided with every up-to-date appliance for keeping in touch 
with the outside world, even though his ship at times was over 
a thousand miles from either shore of the great Atlantic. From 
start to finish of the voyage he was constantly informed of all 
the important world happenings, sent to him by wireless, and 
had with him a corps of stenographers and secretaries for the 
transaction of official business. When his Ship reached the 
Azores a pouch of official mail was put on board a destroyer 
and hurried back to Washington as fast as steam could take it. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 223 

In addition, he cleaned up a bunch'of correspondence by wireless, 
with his private secretary at Washington, D. C. 

Not only was the President kept in touch with the outside 
world, but the world was kept in touch with the President — ^how 
he spent his time, how he enjoyed the trip, received calls from 
diplomats on board, took his walks on the decks of the steamer, 
and other details making up the momentous trip. 

Truly t?ie wireless is a wonderful invention. In its use has 
come true the prophecy of Mother Shipton, an English woman, 
made ia 1641, when she said: 

"Around the -world the news shall fly 
In the twinkling of an eye." 

ATLANTIC CROSSED IN THREE DAYS. 

One of the modern wonders of travel was when Foreign Min- 
ister Balfour, of Great Britain, made a trip across the Atlantic 
in three days. That was at the time when the Siberian situation, 
in its relation to the war, was so acute that the presence of the 
British Foreign Minister in Washington was imperative. The 
almost unbelievable speed of the ship that carried him is credited 
with having saved a precarious situation. The news of the won- 
derful trip was not given out until the war was over. 

SHELL-TORN FIELDS MADE FERTILE. 

Reports from France to some of the American universities 
making a specialty of the study of agriculture are to the effect 
that the tearing up of the earth by the great shells from the 
German guns, instead of rendering the land useless for agricul- 
ture, had just the opposite effect in many places. Crops grown 
on shell-torn ground are much heavier than crops grown on the 
same land before the war. 

This has forced the conclusion among experts that heretofore 
all plowing has been too shallow. It is further shown that with 
the aid of tractors, which are coming into general use more and 
15 



224 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

more, plowing is beiag done much deeper and more thoroughly 
than in former days. This will mean proportionately better 
crops over the entire world. 

WAE SPURS CONQUEST OF AIR. 

The close of the war made very little essential difference in 
the airplane industry in America, notwithstanding that because 
of the war the industry had been forced forward by leaps and 
bounds, far in ' advance of what would have been accomplished 
in many years of peace, according to some writers. 

During the progress of the war the people in general were 
not informed as to the details of progress, and some big sur- 
prises were therefore revealed when hostilities ceased. It came 
out that during the last twelve months of the war the United 
States had a great flying-boat capable of carrying eleven tons of 
freight and fifty passengers! This boat was in active service 
on the Atlantic Ocean, on the lookout for Grerman submarines. 

With the closing of the war, attention was at once turned to 
making this type of locomotor serviceable for ocean flight. 

In fact, so great was the advance in the conquest of the air 
that one writer said: 

The airplane is to-day -where the automobile was fifteen years ago— 
on the verge of a development that will astound and revolutionize a war- 
worn world. 

Do you realize that it was only in 1903 that a little sixteen-horse-power 
contraption devised by the Wrights took a flop in the air and called itself 
an airplane? To-day we have 450-horse-power engines that have ascended 
almost 30,000 feet and flown thousands of miles, and by putting three of 
these engines in one plane we have 1,350 horse-power, capable of carrying 
air passengers from London to Egypt, or New York to London. 

Long-distance flights in the war regions were easily made at a 
rate of speed of about 100 miles per hour, in a number of 
instances. 

On October 2, 1918, a non-stop flight was made from Dayton, 
Ohio, to "Washington, D. C, a distance of approximately 430 
miles, in two hours and fifty minutes, or at the rate of about 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 225 

143 miles an hour. At that time it required sixteen and a half 
hours for the fastest train on the Pennsylvania Eailroad to make 
the trip. Caleb Bragg was the pilot, having with him an engineer 
officer of the Bureau of Aircraft Production. 

During the war such rapid progress was made that the TJ. S. 
Government had installed regular aerial mail routes between some 
of the large Eastern cities, with plans maturing for greatly 
extending this method of carrying mail. 

On Thanksgiving Day, 1918, a huge biplane carried nine per- 
sons from the flying-field of the United States Air Mail Service 
at Elizabeth, New Jersey, and, after reaching a height of over 
half a mile, they partook of a good old-fashioned turkey dinner, 
with the earth far beneath them. 

• CHANNEL TUNNEL PLANS HASTENED. 

For 116 years the proposition to build a tunnel under the 
English Channel was discussed, with no practical headway. The 
very thing that held it up — fear of war complications — finally 
turned the tide in favor of it. 

Prior to this, England steadfastly opposed the tunnel. For 
centuries she had been an island. She felt safe from invasion 
because she was surrounded by stormy waters, and thought that 
physical connection with the Continent would prove a military 
menace. 

At one time (1875) England and France signed a treaty for 
its construction. Shafts were sunk on both the English and 
French sides seven years later, and tunnels driven from these 
shafts out under the sea a distance of 6,000 feet. Then Joseph 
Chamberlain, Secretary of the Home Department of Great Britain, 
stepped in, and, with the assistance of the courts, stopped the 
work, according to the Popular Science Monthly. 

When the great war came on, with its bombing airships and 
fighting submarines, hurling explosives down even upon London 
itself, and sinking vast numbers of her ships, England no longer 



226 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

felt isolated and safe because she was an island. Strategists 
soon saw that a great blunder had been made in not building 
the tunnel. During the war 20,000,000 passengers crossed the 
Channel in boats, and millions of tons of munitions and supplies 
also had to be carried over to the war zone by boats. The 
tunnel would have released for Atlantic sea service 1,500,000 tons 
of shipping, and an army of dock-hands for service in helping to 
win the war. Albert Sartiaux, the noted French engineer, esti- 
mated that with the tunnel in operation 30,000 troops and 30,000 
tons of supplies could have been transported each day without 
the use of a ship. 

Even before the war came to its final close, British opinion 
had undergone such a radical change that the construction of the 
tunnel was considered practically assured. The estimated cost 
was $80,000,000 to $90,000,000, for double borings, with con- 
necting passages every two or three hundred yards. The distance 
would be about thirty-seven miles, with twenty-four miles under 
water, the balance of the distance in the approaches. 

PROPAGANDA 

EIVAL "SNOWSTOEMS" IN WAE. 

There were times in the summer and autumn of 1918, when 
the propaganda spirit was in fuU sway on the battlefront in 
France, that the air had the appearance of a snowstorm, although 
the sky may have been as clear as the noonday sun could make it. 

This was due to the tens of thousands of hand-bills and cir- 
culars dropped from airplanes. If it happened that there was 
enough air stirring to prevent the paper falling direct to the 
ground, the scene was all the more remarkable, with the many 
bits of white moving hither and thither in a gradual downward 
direction. 

This method of ** warfare" was begun by the Huns, in hope 
of weakening the spirit of their enemies, and for a time did 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 227 

serious injury to the morale of the Italian army, but made no 
perceptible impression on the Allies fighting in France. 

When the "peace offensives" were launched, the -Germans 
would send their airplanes out over the battle-line and scatter 
many thousands of hand-bills. Then the allied planes in turn 
would fly over and scatter their thousands more. Thus the prop- 
aganda duel became quite a spectacular sight. 

CLAIRVOYANTS USED BY GERMANS. 

Every conceivable form of propaganda that could be used by 
the Germans to accomplish their ends was resorted to. They did 
not even overlook the clairvoyants. Here is how it was done 
to get American workmen to quit their jobs in ship-building 
yards or at war factories, as discovered by a detective whose 
suspicions had been aroused and who went to the clairvoyant 
disguised as a common laborer, the woman giving him this 
"reading": 

"I see you working. You work very hard. There is a sound of ma- 
chinery in the air, and I smell chemicals. Many men are around you. 
Ah-h-hl" (A muffled shriek.) "Everything is fire and smoke. There is a 
great crash. Men are torn to pieces. They are flung in the air. I can not 
see whether you are one of them." (A pause.) "No, you have gone 
away. You have found a better job in another place. It is a factory, but 
it is not a war factory. No, you are working on woodwork. You are 
very happy there, but you sorrow for your dead companions." 

It requires no very vivid imagination to picture the fear this 
would create in the mind of a subject employed in a hazardous 
occupation who had faith in clairvoyance. 

The German agent knew her lesson well. It was learned she 
had repeated it often with the desired effect, and that was to 
get men employed at any kind of war work to throw up their jobs. 

But this was her last "reading." The detective said to her: 

"I see you in a far place. There is barbed wire around it — 
two fences. Soldiers patrol the barbed wire. There are several 
other German ladies with you. There are — don't try to get 
away, madam, or I '11 have to handcuff you I ' ' 



228 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

So this clairvoyant, with others using the same methods to 
hinder America's war preparations, became a guest of the U. S. 
Government, "somewhere in jail," with the result that the loss of 
labor in war factories was greatly reduced. 

PROTECTION 

GRATITUDE FOR BIG GUNS. 

A father who suffered from terror during the German air 
raids over London took his children to a Sunday afternoon ser- 
vice. The speaker, referring to the noise made by the guns which 
protected the city, said to the children present: 

"Don't be afraid of that any longer, for it is a thing to be 
thankful for. You ought to thank God for every sound of a 
gun, for it means protection; the greater the sound, the safer 
we are." 

A few nights later there came a heavy raid. The warning 
was soon followed with a booming sound which told of the pro- 
tection of the big guns. The oldest boy in the family referred 
to, a lad of twelve, called out without the slightest indication of 
fear: "Thank God for thatl'* 

For a moment the parents were greatly surprised, and then 
the father recalled the words of the speaker at the Sunday after- 
noon meeting. Every time the big guns roared, the boy, now 
joined in by the rest of the children, made the same glad cry: 
"Thank God for that!" 

LONDON FOGS IN WARTIME. 

London was approaching its fourth winter of the great war, 
with the customary dread of fogs in the minds of many, when 
some one made the wise suggestion that instead of grumbling 
at the fog, as Londoners had been in the habit of doing before 
the war, they should be thankful for it. The reason for the 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 229 

changed attitude was that the fog might possibly prevent many- 
air raids, and thus save many lives. 

In every life, perhaps, are some unpleasant experiences which 
serve a useful purpose if we are only wise enough to recognize 
them. If we are inclined to grumble, let's remember the lesson 
of the London fogs in wartime. 

DE-LOUSING STATIONS PEOVIDED, - 

An eye-witness of many of the war scenes in France and of 
hardships endured by the soldiers — Damon Runyon — gives this 
side-light on the pest commonly known as "cooties," which some 
soldiers declared were more dreaded than being on sentry duty 
on a cold night: 

Some of the men from tho Seventy-seventh are now at a "de-lonsing" 
station. This is just what the name implies. There's no use making bones 
about it. The men are marched there direct from the lines. They strip 
themselves, and each man's clothing is tied up in a bundle with his name 
on it. The bundles then are passed through a steaming process which 
destroys what the soldiers call "seam squirrels." This process takes about 
forty minutes. In the meantime the men wait around with nothing on but 
their raincoats. After being rid of their unwelcome guests, they get rest. 

So great was the "cootie" nuisance to the soldiers in the. 
trenches that vast sums of money were spent to destroy them. 
When the war ended, the U. S. Government was determined 
that the pests should not be brought to America by the return- 
ing soldiers. To make sure of it, $1,500,000 was expended in 
the erection of forty-five "de-lousing" plants, where every 
particle of clothing worn by the soldiers was treated. In addi- 
tion, every individual soldier was officially inspected to insure 
that none of the little creatures that had been their companions 
in war should be their companions in peace, nor move to America- 
Some Europeans are welcome to our shores, but not these. 

Little sins, like small pests, should be avoided and detested, 
for often, like the ' ' cootie ' ' in the spreading of dreaded diseases, 
they lead to greater evils. 



230 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

PUNISHMENT 

MINISTER SENTENCED TO PRISON. 

For saying, "I would as soon take a gun and kiU a man as 
to buy a Liberty bond/' the Eev. David F. Gerdes, pastor of 
the Church of the Brethren, of Rockf ord, Illinois, was sentenced 
to ten years in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 

KINGS FLEE FOR THEIR LIVES. 

Perhaps never before in the history of the world did so 
many momentous changes take place among the rulers and 
nations as in the autumn of 1918, when one ruler after another 
was dethroned by the uprising of the people. Scarcely a week 
that there was not some upheaval so vast that, had it occurred 
singly, it would have been the subject of columns and pages in 
the newspapers and magazines, and of much discussion on the 
rostrum. 

Kings and emperors were fleeing for their lives in every 
direction. Within a few weeks six rulers, seven princes and 
ten dukes abdicated their thrones, the majority of them seeking 
seclusion. Within a week from the time the Kaiser of Germany 
was forced to abdicate and make haste to get out of his country, 
the newspapers contained in substance the following: 

Emperor Karl and Empress Zita of Austria-Hungary have fled to 
Wartegg castle in Switzerland. 

The king of Wurtemburg abdicated to-day. He has fled from Stutt- 
gart through fear of violence. 

King Friedrich of Saxony has been dethroned, according to an ofScial 
telegram from Berlin. 

Just a few days before all this, the Bulgarian king was 
forced to abdicate, and Count Tisza, former premier of Hungary, 
was shot dead in his own home, in the presence of his wife and 
other women, who refused to leave the room at the request of the 
Boldiers who came to put the count to death. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 231 

There is considerable difference of opinion among Bible stu- 
dents as to the interpretation of the Book of Revelation. With- 
out any effort to make an application to the above far-reaching 
incidents, it is interesting to note that the situations are strik- 
ingly described in the sixth chapter, verses 12 to 17. Some of 
the Scripture verses are given to the left, and the comments are 
from B. W. Johnson's ''People's New Testament": 

12 And I saw when he opened An earthquake is the symbol of a 
the sixth seal, and there was a political or moral agitation and up- 
great earthquake. heaval. 

13 And the stars of heaven Indicating the downfall of those 
fell unto the earth. who had high places on the earth. 

14 And the heaven was removed The old religions, supposed ol 
as a scroll. heavenly origin, pass away. 

The fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth verses figuratively 
describe vfhat took place in the flight of the kings in the latter 
part of 1918 : 

"And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, 
and the rich and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid them- 
selves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains ; and they say to 
the mountains, and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face 
of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for 
the great day of their wrath is come ; and who is able to stand 3" 

SOLOMON AND THE KAISER. 

When Solomon, called the wisest of men, was asked by the 
Lord what He should give him, Solomon asked for wisdom. His 
desire was granted. Among his wonderful sayings were these: 

"A lying tongue is but for a moment." 

"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before' a fall." 

"Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein." 

"The violence of the wicked shall sweep them away." 

If these words had been written specially to describe the 
fate of the Kaiser, they could not have been more to the point. 

In addition, Solomon mentions seven things that are an abom- 
ination to the Lord. As if to defy God, the Kaiser transgressed 
every one of the seven, which read: 



232 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart 
that deviseth wicked ptirposes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, 
a false witness that uttereth lies, and he that soweth discord among 
brethren. 

Insolence, falsehood, murder, intrigue, diabolical destruction, 
lying propaganda, and the effort to set friendly nations at war 
with one another — these are the seven sins for which the Kaiser 
stood during the four years and more of the great war, before 
his final overthrow. 

No lesson of the war stands out more prominently than that 
he who attempts to rule by wicked might brings destruction 
upon himself. His wicked ambition is self-defeating. 

RELIGION 

SERVING TWO BATTLEFRONTS. 

Joel Heminger, of the U. S. navy, took time while the great 
war against autocracy was in progress, to send $36 to his mother 
at Akron, Ohio, for the support of an assistant missionary in 
India. He was a member of the South Akron Christian Church. 
A missionary magazine commented upon the incident thus: 

"We believe that many a boy goes to his task in the great 
War just as the missionary goes to his — ^to help redeem the 
world. ' ' 

The surest way to prevent war is to do as this young sailor 
did — help to Christianize the world. When the religion of Christ 
becomes the controlling power in the private and public life of 
nations, there will be no more war. 

GENERAL FOCH BELIEVES IN PRATER. 

A California boy, Evans by name, with the American forces 
in France, in a letter to his parents in San Bernardino, told 
of seeing General Foch praying. Evans had gone into an old 
church to look at it, and as he stood with bared head, the great 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 233 

general entered and knelt in prayer. The soldier remaiaed in 
respectful silence until nearly an hour had passed, when Foch 
arose and departed. The incident made a strong impression upon 
the young man in khaki. 

During the time the general was there in communion with 
God, tens of thousands of guns were roaring up and down the 
long battle-line, in obedience to his orders to the allied armies. 

Those in a position to know say that General Foch made it 
a rule to enter a church and pray every day, if there was a 
church he could reach. Throughout his entire life it was his 
custom to kneel in prayer every morning and evening. 

He is called one of the greatest generals the world has ever 
known. From the time when God was preparing the Jewish race 
for an important place in the world, down to the present age, 
it has often been the case that great generals were believers in 
prayer. In 2 Sam. 5: 19 we read: 

"And David inquired of Jehovah., saying, Shall I go np against the 
Philistines 1 Wilt thou deliver them into my hand ? And Jehovah said 
■unto David, Go up ; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into thy 
.hand." 

RELIGION OF THE RECRUITS. 

That the soldier did not wait until he went into the trenches 
before beginning his thinking along religious lines, was brought 
out in a conversation between a lieutenant and a Y. M. C. A. 
secretary. Speaking of a certain officers' training-camp, during 
America's preparation for the war, the lieutenant said: 

"Out of about thirteen hundred officers selected in our camp, 
twelve hundred of them signed the pledge of purity." 

The secretary had heard of this remarkable fact, but said 
nothing, preferring to hear the story from the young, clean-cut- 
American army officer, who continued: 

"And not only that, but I myself heard the commanding 
officer say: 'No man need expect to be an officer out of this 
training-camp if he is known to drink, or to frequent a house 



234 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

of prostitution, or if lie is known to be a panderer of dirty 
stories. ' ' 

The young lieutenant paused a moment, then said with spirit: 

"That's the kind of an army I have the honor of being a 
humble officer in. I'm proud of it." 

Speaking of books he had read, giving experiences of soldiers 
in the trenches, he observed: 

"They are finding 'over there' that just a few things count — 
the Bible, God, Christ and eternity." 

A SERMON IN A SENTENCE. 

An American soldier who had strayed away from the early 
teachings of his parents, "came to himself" at a Y. M. C. A. 
meeting in France, and took his stand publicly for the Chris- 
tian life. 

' * Now I 'm going over the top, "he said to the secretary, 
"and I won't be afraid. I'm not going alone. Here's my 
mother's name and address. You will know what to tell her if 
I don't come back." 

In the very next battle he gave up his life. His body was 
brought back on a wagon, and, as it passed, his comrades bared 
their heads. They knew of the stand he had taken at the 
Y. M. C. A. meeting and of the life he had lived in harmony 
with his profession. As the body went by, one of them said 
reverently : 

"There's our Bible hoy on the wagon." 

When the secretary made a talk at the grave, he referred to 
the remark, which he had overheard. The little sentence of only 
seven words was perhaps the strongest sermon those soldiers had 
heard in many months. 

FIEST PLACE FOE HIS TESTAMENT. 

In one of the Y. M. C. A. huts in France, when many soldiers 
were being served with the various things for which they called, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 235 

one Lusky fellow pulled a New Testament out of Ms upper left- 
hand pocket to replace it with something else. Pausing an 
instant with both objects in his hand, he shook his head and 
spoke to himself as though no one was near, ''Nope," and back 
went the Testament in that most convenient of all his pockets. 

THE CHUECH IN THE WAR. 

When the war broke out with such startling suddenness upon 
the world there were many ready to declare: "Christianity is a 
failure ! " 

When the unreasonableness of this view became apparent, 
those who are ever ready to find fault with Christianity declared 
that the church was a slacker in the great conflict. 

The Chicago Daily News, in discussing the subject, says: 

Any intelligent review of the chttrch's activities fully disproves sucb 
calumnies. While plenty of young men of military fitness can be found 
on the street and in places of amusement, there is scarcely a church in 
Chicago that has not been stripped of its young manhood. The service 
flag in every place of worship tells the story. 

Many churches have contributed their ministers as chaplains and camp 
pastors, bearing much of the expense of their work. Scores of churches 
have become great rallying-centers for patriotism and idealism. The pur- 
chase of Liberty Bonds is declared from many puJpits to be a religious as 
well as a patriotic duty. 

The biggest single factor in winning the war is universally 
admitted to have been the high spirit of morale of the American 
and allied troops, due almost entirely to the splendid work of 
the Y. M. C. A., the Salvation Army and other religious organi- 
zations. In fact, men high in military authority went so far as 
to say that without the Y. M. C. A. it would have been practically 
impossible to have won the war for the Allies. 

Another thing should be kept in mind. The very kind of 
young men who were members of the churches were the ones who 
proved physically fit to a remarkable degree, while the larger 
number of rejections were nearly all in the class not connected 



236 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

with the church, the T. M. C. A. and other Christian organiza- 
tions. 

COMMUNION SERVICE IN A STABLE. 

One Sunday morning in France, while the battles were raging 
and the boom of guns could be heard not far away, a Y. M. 
C. A. secretary was sitting by the roadside thinking seriously of 
the work he had to do that day. An orderly down the road, says 
Rev. F. A. LaViolette, in writing of the scene, hailed the secre- 
tary as he approached and said: 

"Some of the boys and staff officers want to see you in the 
attic." 

Going down to the old farm building, which was used- by the 
men as stable, granary and residence combined, he climbed into 
the attic to find a group of very earnest men, and asked: 

"Well, fellows, what's up?" 

"It's like this," replied one of the officers; "this regiment 
has been so much on the move, and we've not been able to get 
together, that a few of us wondered if we could have a com- 
munion service. We're .'going in' to-day, and we wondered, see- 
ing that you're a minister, if you couldn't serve the communion 
to us." 

"We must report at ten o'clock," spoke up another, anx- 
iously. 

"I can get you everything you need," volunteered the mess 
sergeant. 

Looking into the earnest faces of the men, who sought to 
express their faith in this way, there could be but one answer. 

"Meet me in the back room in ten minutes," said the secre- 
tary, "and bring any of your friends you wish." 

And so that day eighteen soldiers met in an upper room in 
that old building, and partook of the emblems representing the 
broken body and the shed blood of the Saviour of men. Among 
them were representatives of different religious bodies, including 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 237 

Catholic and Jew. All were drawn, together in one common desire 
to get close to God in that tense moment. 

Then they passed out to go to battle, some never to return, 
nor to see their comrades agaiu until the reunion beyond the 
grave, where "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former 
things are passed away." 

WHEN MEN THINE STRAIGHT. 

Gipsy Smith was talking in a Y. M. 0. A. hut behind the 
battle-lines in France to over five hundred soldiers one evening. 
He knew that every boy there was going into the trenches that 
night. Even as he spoke to them, there could be heard the roar 
of battle, the crackle of rifles and the rattle of the machine 
guns. Occasionally their faces would be lit up by the flashes. 
It was a weird sight. 

"Boys," said the speaker, "you are going up to the trenches. 
Anything may happen there. I wish I could go with you — I 
would if they would let me. I'd like to hold your hand and 
say something to you for mother, for wife, for' lover and for 
child. I'd like to be a link between you and your home just 
for that moment — God's messenger for you. They won't let me 
go, but there's somebody who will go with you. Tou know who 
that is." 

AU over the hut the boys whispered, "Yes, sir — Jesus." 

"Well," said Gipsy, "1 want every man that is anxious to 
take Jesus with him into the trench to stand." 

Instantly and quietly every man in that hut stood up. There 
was an earnest prayer, and then they sang "Forever with the 
Lord," with real feeling. 

When the meeting was over and Gipsy Smith started for his 
quarters, he was stopped by two fine, manly soldiers. One of 
them said: 



238 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

"We didn't get into the meeting, but we stood at the win- 
dow. We heard all you said. We want you to pray for us. We 
are going into the trenches too. We can't go until it is settled." 
In closing the account of the incident, the evangelist said: 
"We prayed together, and then I shook hands with them and 
bade them good-by. They did not come back. Some of their 
comrades came. These two, with others, were left behind. But 
they had settled it — they had settled it." 

FEOM BEGGAR TO ENDORSER. 

A Presbyterian minister, who had applied for passports as 
a T. M. C. A. war worker, was becoming anxious about the 
matter after two months had passed with no word concerning 
the papers, when a young Italian gentleman called on him. The 
preacher immediately recognized him as one who had begged at 
his office for help. These calls became so persistent that he dis- 
missed the boy with a severe reprimand for not working and 
helping to support his family. He had not seen him since — and 
that was seven years previously. He was amazed at the great 
change that was apparent, but said nothing about it until later. 

The young Italian showed him his badge as inspector in the 
secret service of the tJ. S. War Department, and said: 

"I understand you are going overseas. I have endorsed you 
to the War Department, and you will receive your passport in 
a short time." 

With this business disposed of, the minister asked the splen- 
did-appearing Italian what had brought about the transformation 
in his life. The reply was: 

"When you sent me from your ofS.ee that last time, you gave 
me a raking for not working, and handed me this Book, telling 
me to read it, and I have." 

It was a copy of the New Testament he held in his hand. 

"I also started to night school," he continued, "and did 
mighty hard work. I passed a severe civil service examination 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 239 



for the position I now hold, and It is all due to this Book. 
My success depends on Jesus Christ." 

The officer further stated that the entire family, which in the 
years gone by had begged whatever help could be obtained, was 
now a fine, self-supporting. Christian family. 

THE DECISION OF ONE SOLDIER. 

A worker on the field staff of the Business Men's War Council 
of the Pocket Testament League, which did such wonderful work 
in giving out pocket Testaments to soldiers and sailors during the 
war, observed a man in one of the camps where he was distributing 
Testaments who did not take a copy, but yet seemed much inter- 
ested. The field worker says of the incident: 

"I asked him if he would like one. His face brightened 
as he said, in a Southern voice, 'Oh, yes, suh, I'd like one.' 
Then I thought something might be hindering, and asked, 'Can 
you read?' He replied with a quiet smile: 'No. I've been 
tryin' to learn for a long time, but can't do much. But I'm 
awful glad for what I do know.' " 

Then the man had a little quiet talk with him to one side. 
The brave young soldier wanted to be a Christian, "but always 
there's something holding me back," he said regretfully. "But 
I can't get away from the old cussin' — I gave up driakin'. 
Many a time I've been in jail because of drink, and I know 
that if a fellow goes across the pond and gets killed, if he isn't 
saved he's goin' straight to hell. But if he is saved, it's all 
right. ' ' 

As he talked he broke down and pulled out his handkerchief. 
Finally he made a firm decision to become a Christian, saying 
earnestly, "I'll take Him." 

"Will you write your name here in the corner?" said his 
friend, designating the line for the signature to accept Christ, 
forgetting in his joy that the soldier could not write. 

"You write and I'll touch the pencU, " he said. 
16 



240 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 



As the man wrote the name, the soldier laid a firm, warm 
hand on his, then gripped it and thanked the worker for helping 
him to make the important decision. He was very grateful and 
happy. 

Much of this kind of work was done for the soldiers in camps. 

A LEAF FROM HIS TESTAMENT. 

L. A. Morehouse related the following remarkable incident in 
Association Men: 

An American soldier who was sent with his comrades to 
France, whose given name was Simon, carried with him a small 
Testament given to him by his mother. He kept it in his pocket 
because it was from her, but he was rough in conduct and lan- 
guage, and never cared to read it. 

He got in an argument with a comrade one day about David 
and Goliath, declaring that the former had killed the giant with 
a sword, while the other was positive David used only a stone. 
fie didn't know where to find the account; did not even know 
that it was in the Old Testament, so looked in vain for it. 

Simon put the Testament back in his pocket, with no inten- 
tion of reading it. One day he wanted to smoke, but had no 
cigarette papers. He was getting nervous, and in desperation 
tore a leaf from the little Book presented by his mother. As 
he poured out the tobacco and was ready to roll it, he was sur- 
prised to see the word "Simon," his own name, on the printed 
page. Curiosity prompted him to put the tobacco back in the 
sack, and here is what he read: 

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have 
you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy 
faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." 

The verses were in the twenty-second chapter of Luke. He 
read the words over and over again, and mused: "It's a lot 
any one would pray for me I " 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 241^ 

And then he remembered his dear old father and mother, 
alone on the farm, and he knew they would never cease to pray 
for him. He also remembered the night, which now seenied so 
long ago, when he left for the front-line trenches, how old Dr. 
Barton had taken his hand and said: 

"My boy, I've got a son up there, and I know how your 
old dad and mother felt when they sent you away. Do what is 
right, for their sake. God bless you. Good-by." 

Simon put the leaf back. Just then a comrade came up 
and found him turning his head, for there were tears in his eyes. 
The other asked what was the matter, but Simon wouldn't tell 
him. 

The next day he read the verses again. 

"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren," he 
repeated. 

He couldn't get the words out of his mind. He thought 
that "strengthen" meant to help, and reached the conclusion: 

"Well, I guess I'll never be converted, but, by heck, I'll 
'strengthen' them, anyway. Now, there's Shorty's legs. He 
ain't very well, and a little more sleep won't hurt him, especially 
if we go over the top." 

That night Simon did his own and then Shorty's turn at 
the lookout. A week later they were ordered back to a rest- 
camp. There he did so many kind things for his comrades that 
one of them said to him: 

"We don't know what's happened to you. Si — ^we sure don't, 
for you used to be a mean guy. You sure did." 

But Simon knew. He felt of his hip pocket, where he kept 
the Testament, and said to himself: 

"It's a wonderful book, and the next time I get a chance 
I'll give the boys a dose, for it will strengthen them too." 

From that time forth Simon was a power for good among 
his comrades, all because of one little leaf from his Testament 
which he treasured instead of burning. 



242 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

REMEMBRANCE 

HOME FOE MOTHER OF DEAD HERO. 

The citizens of Evansville, Ind., honored the mother of James 
B. Gresham, one of the immortal trio of American soldiers who 
were the first to fall in France, by building her a home. The 
dwelling is modern in all its appointments, and was completely 
furnished by the donors. It is a one-story and attractive in 
architectural design. 

MESSAGE FOE JUST ONE. 

A soldier lay in a hospital in France with closed eyes, and 
was very pale. A girl in the uniform of the Y. M. C. A., who 
had been told the boy could live but a few hours at the most, 
stepped quietly to his side and touched his hand. He opened 
his eyes and looked up with a pleasant smile, for she had been 
a frequent visitor since he was brought there wounded. His lips 
moved, but the words were so faintly spoken that she bent close 
to hear them. He was trying to say good-by. 

"Can I write a letter for you? Have you any message to 
send?" she inquired tenderly. The soldier shook his head. 

"Haven't you a mother? Can't I write to her for you?" 

Another shake of the head in answer to both questions. 

"Is your father living? Can I write to him?" 

He had no father living. After a brief silence, she asked: 

"Perhaps you have a sweetheart?" 

He opened his eyes and nodded very weakly, with a pleased 
expression on his white face. 

"Shall I write to her?" 

He nooded again. It was evident if he spoke it must be 
with an effort, so she bent very close while he gave her the 
name and address of his sweetheart. 

"Now what do you want me to say?" 

"Good-by," spoken in a faint whisper. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 243 

"Do you want me to tell her you are going to die, and that 
you thought of her and wanted to send a message of love?" 

It was evident from the happy expression and the anxious 
look that she had interpreted his thoughts just right, for he 
spoke quite clearly, "Yes." 

She wrote the letter, and, holding his hand, helped him to 
make a faint mark in place of the signature he was too weak to 
affix. 

Within an hour, with his message ready for the mail, to go 
to the one who was uppermost in his thoughts, the Boatman came 
to bear him over the Silent River. 

A BATTLEFIELD PHOTOGRAPH. 

It's only a faded old photo, 

All frayed at the edge, but, perchance. 
It held the affection, in toto, 

Of a lad who had fallen in France. 
To him it was precious and saintly. 

And he treasured, where'er he might roam, 
That woman-face, smiling so faintly — 

That glance from a far-away home. 

Your speakers may whirl perorations 

Till the day of deliverance comes; 
Your presses may scatter orations. 

Your warriors rattle their drums. 
But the face of this woman, so tender. 

This photo from somebody's breast. 
Roused more in that noble defender 

Than eloquence, print and the rest. 

To him it was just the ideal 

That manhood is sacrificed for; 
To him it made personal, real. 

The task of the soldiers at war; 
To him it was home, love and beauty. 

The mem'ries of wooing in May; 
To him 'twas the pledge of his duty. 

And he sealed it with blood, where he lay. 

BROKEN BITS OF BEAUTY. 

When the Germans were conquered and France was free from 
the stench of their cruel presence, the peasants began wandering 



244 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

around over the ruins, with hearts aching because of the destruc- 
tion seen on every hand. Nearly every step of the way would 
be found some sad reminder of former beauty laid low by the 
merciless Huns. 

One peasant picked up a bit of stone. On one side was an 
exquisite carving — a spray of myrtle leaves. He let the relic 
fall to the ground, weeping bitterly. It was a reminder of the 
beautiful cathedral of Arras. Another man came upon a piece 
of stained glass. A part of the design was there — the head of 
the Christ child on the severed arm of the Madonna. It had 
been a part of the great cathedral of Rheims. 

And so it was, on and on, wherever the peasant might walk 
over the wide stretch of desolation and ruin wrought by the 
armed representatives of German "kultur." 

REMINDERS 

A REMEDY FOR PROFANITY. 

A Presbyterian minister, acting as a Y. M. 0. A. secretary 
in France, naturally disliked profanity, and undertook, in a 
tactful way, to curb swearing around the hut where he was in 
charge. One day a tall Highlander was giving vent to his feel- 
ings over something in very forcible language, when the secretary 
called his attention to this sign on the wall: 

"If you must swear, put it m writing." 

*^Do you think I'm a fool?" asked the soldier. 

"I know you're not," was the kindly reply, "but if you write 
down what you have just said, and read it, you'll feel like 
one!" 

AS LONG AS BELLS RING. 

Not satisfied with the ordinary processes of war, Germany 
resorted to every conceivable form of cruelty — hideous things for 
which no excuse of necessity could be made. Among her acts 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 245 

of contemptible sacrilege was the destruction of many beautiful 
cathedrals and churches. This was done to break the spirit 
of her enemies. 

Later, in her time of need of materials with which to pros- 
ecute the war, she resorted to the stealing of church bells, which 
had called countless thousands to the places of worship. First, 
the beautiful bells of Belgium were taken, then those of France, 
and later the bells of Russia. 

Germany had respect for nothing — the emotions, sentiments, 
treasures of the people were to her like chaff before the wind. 
In her thievery of bells, the great bell of the Kremlin in Moscow 
— the largest ever made, weighing 200 tons — ^was taken. This 
afforded the Germans 200 tons of copper and tin for war uses; 
for destruction of other things worth while; for her selfish pur- 
poses of murder and conquest. 

As long as bells ring, the crimes of Germany in the great 
war will be remembered against her. 

GERMAN MONUMENTS IN FRANCE. . 

The feeling of permanence possessed by the Germans in the 
St. Mihiel salient, from which they were driven like sheep in 
September, 1918, was expressed in many handsome and elaborate 
monuments to their dead. 

Here the graves were not marked by pathetic little wooden 
crosses, but by substantial plinths and slabs of carved stone. 
On the road leading into St. Mihiel itself was found a beautiful 
fountain erected in memory of the fallen of a certain German 
engineer regiment. 

A sign near by gave warning that the water was for drinking 
purposes only. A passer-by one day, after the Americans took 
possession, saw a line of American soldiers waiting each his 
turn at the water-spout, tooth-brushes in hand. As each one 
stepped up he brushed his teeth as carefully as though the fate 
of the Allies hung on his keeping his set clean and white. 



246 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

PARIS TRIP DIDN'T MATERIALIZE. 

It will be remembered that tho German army was promised 
a visit to Paris on a number of occasions during the progress 
of the war, the first date, with a promised feast, being set only 
a few weeks after the beginning of hostilities. But plucky little 
Belgium blocked that ambition for the time being. Later, after 
the battle-line had zigzagged back and forth, with the Germans 
gradually pressing toward Paris, the German army leaders set 
another date for "dining in Paris." 

Then it was that the Americans, whom the Kaiser said didn't 
know how to fight, spoiled the plans of the Huns. Ever after 
that, instead of getting nearer Paris, they were getting nearer 
Berlin. 

In view of these facts, the following incident must have been 
a bitter reminder of failure for the German militarists who were 
with the Kaiser when he fled from his own country: 

London, Nov. 11, 1918. — "William Hohenzollern, former Emperor of 
Germany, and the ex-crown prince have fled into Holland, accompanied 
by a number of the officers of the German general staff. When the ex- 
Kaiser and party crossed the Holland frontier at Eysden, in ten automo- 
biles, they alighted. The former emperor paced the platform, and made 
a tragic figure as he strode up and down, his body huddled and bent over 
a cane, an outcast even from his own people. News that the ex-emperor 
had arrived spread quickly, and soon a crowd gathered at the Eysden 
station. Curiously eyeing the German group, one man was bold enough 
to call out: "Are you on your way to Paris?" 

TWO TRIPS OVER SAME ROAD. 

Twice the Germans passed over the road to Guise, within the 
span of the war. First they came during the hot summer days 
late in August, 1914, in hordes, flushed with the rapine of Bel- 
gium, and driving before them the terrorized inhabitants of 
northern France. 

It Was a road of their own choosing then. But on November 
7, 1918, some of their representatives came again — not in victory, 
but with a flag of truce. They came to meet General Foch and 



^_ FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 247 

General Haig, whom they had met near this same road in 1914 
— the second time begging for a cessation of hostilities. 

As they came by the way designated by Foeh, after they had 
asked for an armistice, the question naturally arose: Did the 
great French general designate this particular route for the 
German envoys to travel over, for their humiliation? Or did he 
do it for the satisfaction it would give the French nation to 
know that the Germans were forced to come asking peace over 
the same road they had come demanding a German victory? 
Or was it for some other reason? 

Whatever may have been the object, it will always stand 
out in history as a very striking incident. 

SACRIFICE 

OFFEEED ALL; ONLY AEMS TAKEN. 

An American driver of a hospital ambulance in France tella 
about a wounded French soldier brought to his ambulance, with 
both arms shot away. The driver was deeply moved, and said: 

''You poor fellow! This is awful tough!" 

The wounded man looked up with a faint smile as he said 
with justifiable pride: 

"No, not so very tough. I offered my life to France, and 
she took only my two arms." 

SHIP NAMED FOR ENLISTED MAN. 

When you hear the name of ' ' Ingram, ' ' referring to a de- 
stroyer floating the "Stars and Stripes," remember it was 
named in honor of Osmun Ingram, gunner's mate, first-class, on 
the American destroyer ' ' Cassin. " " For there 's no rank in 
sacrifice," as Secretary of the Navy Daniels said. 

The "Cassin" was on patrol duty off the Irish coast, con- 
voying merchant vessels and hunting submarines, when one day 



248 STORIES OF THE GREAT IV AR 

a German U-boat was sighted on the surface five miles away. 
The "Cassin" gave chase. Soon a torpedo was seen coming 
at high speed four hundred yards away, headed to strike the 
vessel at the stern, where the deadly depth charges were stored. 
Osmun Ingram took in the situation at a glance. If the 
torpedo struck there, the ship would be blown up, with the loss 
probably of all on board. Like a flash he dashed down the 
deck and rolled the huge bombs overboard. The instant they 
went into the water the torpedo struck. He was blown to pieces. 
He knew his fate, but he saved the ship. 

A WALL OF HUMAN BEINGS. 

In one instance, where some French soldiers had been taken 
prisoners by the Germans, the foe bound their hands behind 
their backs and put them in front as a living wall to protect 
themselves from the French guns, believing the French would 
not shoot their brothers while the Germans were thus advancing. 
But the Huns had not taken French courage and sacrifice into 
consideration. 

When the prisoners saw that they were being used as a means 
of permitting the Germans to advance, they shouted aloud to 
their comrades: 

"Don't mind us! Shoot!" 

And their comrades did shoot, killing those who preferred 
death for themselves rather than that living they should aid the 
Germans in the least to further invade the soil of their beloved 
France. Many wiU readily believe it was harder for those who 
thus took their lives, under the peculiar circumstances, than for 
those who surrendered their lives. It was a test leaving no room 
for doubt as to the love and loyalty of the French in both groups. 

DIED BEHIND LOCKED DOORS. 

When the "Antilles" was returning from France with 
wounded soldiers on board, and was hit by a German torpedo 



FOR PUBUC SPEAKERS 249 

without a moment's warning, C. L. Ausburne, radio operator, 
and Eadio Electrician MacMahon were asleep in adjoining 
bunks. Instantly realizing what had happened, Ausburne yelled 
to the other, ' ' Put on your life-preserver ! ' ' then dashed into 
the radio room to flash the "S. O. S." across the waves. ^ 

The ship was sinking fast. The last life-boat had been 
lowered into which the soldiers and crew were descending. Mac- 
Mahon sprang to the closed door of the radio room to call to 
Ausburne to join them. It was locked! He shouted and 
pounded, but the only sound from within was the crackle of 
the instrument. 

And so, in that little room, behind that locked door, where 
he evidently did not intend that anything should divert him 
from his object. Radio Operator Ausburne continued to flash out 
the distress signal until the ship plunged beneath the pitiless 
waves. In his anxiety to save others he gave his own life. 

ONE PICTURE OF THOUSANDS. 

On the depot platform at Baltimore was a box of rough 
pine, and in it the body of Otto Bartell, who died in the camp 
at Delaware, while in the service of his country. Across the 
top of the box was an American flag; on this a wreath of 
flowers, with red, white and blue ribbons at its head; at the 
feet a bundle wrapped with newspapers containing a few of the 
soldier's effects, and a small valise of imitation leather, held 
together with a piece of string. On the top of the valise was 
the soldier's military hat, all going home with the dead body 
to the boy's mother in Baltimore. 

Otto Bartell was of German blood. E. L. Shea, of the same 
company as the deceased, and^ of Irish descent, stood beside the 
coffin awaiting the arrival of the undertaker. Shea was in 
uniform, with cartridge-belt and revolver, and was acting as 
escort to his dead comrade. 

Some one stepped up to Shea and spoke a few words. 



250 STORIES OF THE GREAT V/AR 



"Yes," said he in reply; "he was a good soldier. I only- 
hate to think how his family will feel when the body is taken 
home. " y 

Thousands of American mothers, and tens of thousands of 
mothers throughout the battle-torn world, know how Mrs. Bartell 
felt, from their own sad experience. A newspaper writer, in 
commenting upon the scene, says: 

The sight of that coiiin, the bundle wrapped in newspapers, and the 
valise tied with a string, representing the worldly possessions of a man 
dead in his country's service, should soothe the ruffled feelings of the war 
profiteer who complains that he must give back in taxes half of the millions 
that the war gives him.. 

IN WAR'S FURNACE OF FIRE. 

A private with the U. S. Marines in France, in a letter to 
his sister, described one of the most severe battles of the entire 
war: 

It has been awful. Our battalion, which consisted of 1,000 men and 
400 replacements, making a total of 1,400 men in action, came out of the 
battle yesterday with only 270 men. It was all open warfare, and even 
Dante, with his imagination, could not conceive the least part of what it 
has been. 

How I lived through it, and still have my right mind, I will never 
know. The German artillery literally poured a stream of shrapnel, high 
explosives and gas-shells on us during the entire seventeen days. I saw 
man after man blown to fragments within a few yards of me. The dead 
were all around us. We never had one bite of hot food, and at times did 
not have food of any kind. I went for a week without even washing my 
face. Sleep became a thing of the dim past. 

I wouldn't take $100,000 for the experience of what I have been 
through, and, if it were within my power to say, wouldn't go through it 
again for a million dollars. Of course, the nightmare and horror of it will 
always be in my mind, but the memoi'y of the God-given, splendid heroism 
of our boys is something that few men will have to look back upon. They 
are about all gone now, but they stopped the big German drive. The 
French papers gave us credit for saving Paris, and I really believe the Ger- 
mans would be in Paris now if we had not held. 

THE GREAT ARMY THAT DIED. 

When the world war had been won for the right, Premier 
Clemenceau stirred the great heart of France to its depths when 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 251 

he added these few simple words to his communicatiou of the 
armistice terms in the French Cliamber of Deputies: 

Let \is honor the gi'eat army that died. France in older times had 
soldiers of God. To-day it has soldiers of humanity, and always soldiers 
of ideals. 

The New York World says of the great army that died:> 

It is a time for reverent tribute to the men who gave their lives that 
the right should prevail. They have passed beyond the reach of the clamor 
of shouting multitudes, of pealing peace bells, of the voices of loving friends 
and kindred, and the touch of hands they held dear. 

But they, too, wear the victor's crown, though they failed to see the 
hour of ultimate victory. In the men who return from the wars we shall 
show our pride, but, with Premier Clemenceau, may we never forget to 
honor "the great army that died." 

And this from the Newark News: 

Forever living, incapfeble of death, are the noble boys who lie where 
freedom for the world was won. And joyful with a sacred joy are the 
mothers whose offering was beyond earthly measure, the mothers of sons 
who return not. The God of battles is also the God of compassion. They 
need not the pity of men and women. He has raised them up to greater 
heights by sacrifice made perfect. 

THE HORRORS OF GALLIPOLI. 

Capt. Melville M. Fagan, who was in the terrible campaign 
at Gallipoli, with the famous Twenty-ninth Division, where, 
inside of nine months, 100,000 men were killed, wounded or 
captured, was with the comparatively few troops who landed on 
the naked beaches in the face of the terrible fire of the Turks. 
In writing of that awful experience he says: 

To any man who went through those first days at Gallipoli there is one 
word which is the greatest in any language. That word is ivater. We had 
been warned by our officers that we would be short of water for awhile, and 
that we must guard our supply. We had with us our emergency rations 
and our water-bottles. They had been filled before we started. 

He then relates how this was soon exhausted, except a small 
quantity which some of the men had left, because they had been 
more careful than the rest. In addition to the shortage of water 
was the intense heat of the sun, beating down upon them day 



252 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

after day, until some of the men went stark mad from the heat 
and thirst. 

All seemed half crazed with thirst. Under these most unusual 
conditions of distress was developed a test of sacrifice seldom 
known to mortal man. Even though the men who had saved 
some of their water had a right to every precious drop of it, 
they did not think of themselves alone, but shared what was 
life, and dearer than life just then, with their comrades. Says 
Captain Fagan: 

We reached the point where we would take a single drop of water as 
if it were a gift from heaven. At first a bottle wonild be passed to us and 
we would tip it up and just let the water touch our swollen tongues. And 
we were square about it, tool When it seemed as if you could tear the 
thing to pieces to get the last bit of moisture, it wasn't easy to let it go 
with just that taste. 

But the time came when we had to be even more careful; when a man 
would put out his tongue, and the owner of the bottle, just wetting his 
finger, would put it on the man's mouth. Afterward he would lick his own 
finger, so as not to lose even the least vestige of moisture. 

There is great need in the world of another kind of water. 
Jesus says, as recorded in John 4: 14: "Whosoever drinketh of 
the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water 
that I shall give him shall be in him' a well of water springing 
up into everlasting life." 

FOUND BODY OF ADOPTED SON. 

Sacrifice is measured by love. Here is an incident showing 
how an adopted son was loved dearly by the ones who gave him 
a home from the time he was five years old until he enlisted 
in the U. S. army for service in France: 

In 1908, Wesley R. Childs and his good wife, who were then 
living in a little town in Kansas, adopted two orphan children 
by the name of Dillon, the oldest a boy of five. Mrs. DiUon, 
the widowed mother of the children, lived just across the street 
from the Childs home, and when she passed away arrangements 
were being made to send the boy and girl to an orphanage. 



_^ FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 253 

But Mr. and Mrs. Childs couldn't bear the thought of such 
action. 

"Let's adopt them as our very own," said the husband. 

"Yes," said the wife, "we can take them; and we must 
raise them as though they were our own flesh and blood." 

When America entered the war the boy had grown to a fine, 
noble manhood, always appreciating the care of his foster 
parents. And so he enlisted — Joseph A. Dillon — and marched 
away to train and fight for humanity. 

Later Mr. Childs enrolled as a Y. M. C. A. secretary for 
service in France. At the time of one of the big battles in 
which his adopted son was fighting, he was stationed in a Y. M. 
C. A. hut in the same sector. It was now Sergt. Joseph A. 
Dillon, and the father was very proud of the young man. 

After the battle his son was among the missing. With a 
heavy heart he went out over the war-torn field, hunting from 
shell hole to shell hole, crawling over barbed-wire entanglements 
as he made his way from one object to another, looking at the 
faces of the dead, even while the machine guns rattled not far 
away. Finally he found the body of "his boy" — yes, his boy — 
and how he loved him! It seemed that his heart would break. 

With the aid of a chaplain and two soldiers, he buried the 
body in a graveyard on a hillside, where others had been laid 
away to rest, marking the spot with a little white cross. 

"His boy" had made the supreme sacrifice. 

SERVICE 

EIGHTEEN GRANDSON SOLDIERS. 

Mrs. Adele T. Lyon, who passed away in Chicago, in Novem- 
ber, 1918, at the good old age of ninety-two, was the grand- 
mother of eighteen men then in the U. S. army, the most of 
them in France. Her contribution to posterity was fifty grand- 



254 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

children, a number of great-grardchildren, and nine great-great- 
grandchildren. 

THE PERPLEXED RECRUIT. 

"What do you think of the army as far as you have gone?" 
inquired a sergeant of a newly arrived recruit at one of the 
camps where there was continuous preparation for the trip over- 
seas. 

"I may like it after awhile," was the reply, ''but what 
puzzles me now is, why is there so much drilling and fussing 
around between meals?" 

WHAT IMPRESSED HIM. 

A lieutenant on one of the steamers loaded with soldiers bound 
for France had declared himself a pronounced unbeliever. But 
later, up near the front-line trenches, on several occasions he 
watched the Y. M. C. A. man writing out applications for money- 
orders for the men who wanted to send home their pay, 

"What do you do with those?" he inquired one day. 

"I take them to the city and get the money-orders for the 
men. ' ' 

"How much pay do you get for it?" he continued, suspi- 
ciously. 

"Not a cent," replied the secretary. 

The unbeliever mused a moment, knowing "the city" was 
eight miles away, and then answered: 

"I never cared for this religious business, but there rrmst ie 
something in it, after all." 

MOVING PICTURES ON CEILINGS. 

For some time after the war began, Y. M. C. A. workers 
were at a loss to know how to entertain the sick and wounded 
men at the base hospitals, who were unable to sit up. Finally 
motion-picture machines were devised which would throw the pic- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 255 

tures on the ceiling. All then that the men had to do was to 
lie still and enjoy the rapidly changing scenes. 

"LITTLE SWEETHEART OF THE ALLIES.'* 

In years gone by many people, usually chronic faultfinders 
with anything religious, took special delight in ridiculing the 
Salvation Army, but it is a safe prediction that every one with 
the least bit of appreciation in his heart for unselfish service, 
will, in the years to come, have only words of praise for this 
organization. 

The Salvation Army was one of the big things in the Uvea 
of many of our soldiers in France, where its members made tons 
and tons of doughnuts and pies for the men in uniform. One 
soldier. Private Barney Pogue, no doubt expresses the sentiments 
of many others in a letter home, from which we take these words : 

I am so grateful for all the kind things they have done for me. They 
are here to puU off their coats and dig in the dirt, and be one of us; to 
mend and sew and sing and read with us, and last — if we drift around to 
it gracefullj' — to talk about God and home and mother, and all that. 

Take it from me, the Salvation Army is the "Little Sweetheart" of the 
allied armies. Every man who knows a thing about the Salvationists re- 
spects them and is grateful to them. They don't talk about what they aro 
doing — they do it, and every soldier is for them. 

HIS BLOOD NOT FOE SALE. 

In a hospital in France were two wounded French soldiers, 
whose cots adjoined each other. One was so weak that the doctor 
said of him, speaking to an attendant: 

"He will die unless we get some one to furnish blood for his 
veins. ' ' 

The other wounded one instantly spoke up: 

"Doctor, I have offered my life to my country 1 Take my 
blood!" 

The offer was accepted. Both soldiers recovered, and were 
sent back to the front to fight again. Before they departed, 
however, the ladies of the hospital, hearing that the one who 
17 



256 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

had given of his own blood to save his comrade was poor, with 
a wife and children, raised $100 to present to him. The head 
nurse, in her little presentation speech, said: 

"We want you to feel that we are proud of what you have 
done. ' ' 

The soldier was deeply moved. Finally he looked up at the 
nurses standing around him and said: 

"I thank you very much, but what I have done was only my 
duty. I can not take the money. I have given my blood j I have 
not sold it." 

And so he marched away to again fight for the land he so 
dearly loved. 

KNEW WHY HE WAS FIGHTING. 

An Englishman stepped up to an American serving in the 
British army in France, before the United States entered the 
war, and said: 

"Sonny, you're an American?" 

"Yes, sir. I was born in Michigan." 

"Well, what are you doing fighting under the British flag?" 

"I guess it's my fight, too, sir," said he very positively. 
* * This is not a fight for England, France or Belgium, but a fight 
for the race, and I wouldn't have been a man if I had kept out." 

PEESIDENT HOLDS THE SKEIN. 

Mrs. Wilson, wife of President Wilson, readily took up with 
the work of knitting for our soldiers and sailors, so common 
among our American women during the war. Just after the 
President had made his great speech in New York on the eve of 
the fourth Liberty Loan drive, and the party was in his private 
car at Manhattan transfer a few miles out of the city, ready for 
the return trip to Washington, a small crowd surrounded the car, 
and, looking in through the windows, was surprised and delighted 
to see the President holding with outstretched hands a skein of 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 257 

gray yarn from which Mrs. Wilson was rolling a ball preparatory 
to starting another soldier's sock. One finished sock lay in her 
lap. While the President smiled his greetings to the crowd out- 
side, he was careful to hold his hands ''just so." 

Of course the crowd cheered to see the head of the nation 
and his companion both so interested in the welfare of our sol- 
dier boys as to use their spare time for the comfort of the men 
in uniform. 

CONVICTS AS WAR HEROES. 

Sergt. Ike Kaminsky, a native of Russia, who came to this 
country in 1907, and later became one of the most notorious of 
burglars in Chicago and other cities, serving prison sentences for 
some of his crimes, finally decided to "go straight." In 1915 
he got a job in the steel-mills at Youngstown, Ohio. When 
America entered the war he enlisted with Uncle Sam, went to 
France and fought heroically, receiving honor and promotion. 
Then one day, in the casualty list, appeared his name among the 
"missing" — whether dead, or a prisoner in Germany, was not 
known. 

In 1918 six hundred convicts from three prisons in Illinois 
were paroled, to go as free men to enter munition works, and 
thus help in this way to win the war. They worked in the Rock 
Island shops, without guards. They were so anxious to make 
good that it would have been a serious predicament for any one 
of their number to have attempted to escape. 

One plant engaged in war work would have been compelled to 
close but for the aid of these men at a critical time during the 
labor shortage. They were paid good wages, averaging $4.50 to 
$9 a day. With this they bought liberally of Liberty bonds. 

Although they had gone wrong — perhaps some of them by 
force of circumstances — they nevertheless possessed loyal hearts, 
capable of standing with united America for the good of human- 
ity the whole world around. 



256 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

YOUTH AND AGE HELP WIN WAE. 

Frank Morse, of Dallas, Texas, enlisted when only eighteen 
years of age, and later was sent to France to fight in the trenches, 
while his great-grandfather, W. H. Morse, aged eighty-three, was 
working in a shipyard in Seattle, Washington. The latter felt 
that his services were needed also to help win the war, 

"The only difference is that Frank is in uniform and I am 
not," said he. "But I've had my fun," he went on. "In the 
fifties, when I was Frank's age, I was fighting Indians in Minne- 
sota. Then when the Civil War broke out I joined the Seventh 
Iowa Regiment and remained with it until the end of the war." 

HE HAD BEEN CALLED, NOT CAUGHT. 

"Caught in the draft," said a young man to a middle-aged 
acquaintance. "Don't hardly see how I can go and leave mother 
and the girls, but they say they can support themselves, and do 
without the comforts I have been giving them. 

"Of course," he went on, "I would have volunteered, but 
I didn't think I would be caught." 

The repetition of the expression jarred on the older man's 
ears, and he remarked kindly: 

"I don't believe I'd say it that way. Why not say 'called'? 
To be 'caught' seems to imply that you tried to get away from 
a duty. To be 'called' means that you have been waiting at 
your post, ready to go, if it became necessary, and meanwhile 
devoting yourself to the work at hand." 

The young man admitted that's the way matters stood, 
and with a smile and a look of determination on his face he 
went to his work, first calling on the manager, saying: 

"Good morning, Mr. Henning! I've been called into service, 
and I've come to ask you to fill my place here." 

"When a man comes in that spirit," said the white-haired 
Mr. Henning, "we don't fiU his place. We keep it for him until, 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 259 

please God, he comes back to fill it himself 1 ' ' — Youth 's Corn,' 
pa/nion. 

CALIFORNIA MILLIONAIRE ENLISTS. 

Ben E. Crouch, a millionaire near Chico, California, leased 
his five-thousand-acre ranch, sold $50,000 worth of goods at pub- 
lic auction, then enlisted in the U. S. army. The report that he 
was preparing to enlist aroused much interest, and a crowd of 
three thousand attended the auction. 

SOLDIERS SAVED BY PIGEONS 

It happened a number of times during the war that when 
all other means of communication were cut off, carrier-pigeons 
were sent forth with messages, and in some instances saved many- 
soldiers from death or imprisonment. 

During the fierce fighting around Thiaumont, France, while 
the Germans were making one of their strongest attacks, all the 
telephone lines were destroyed, and the enemy's curtain fire made 
the use of messengers impossible. Reinforcements were absolutely 
necessary to hold the position, so Lieutenant Girardin sent a 
number of pigeons back to headquarters, where they arrived in 
twenty to twenty-five minutes, with the result that the reinforce- 
ments were promptly sent. 

Another notable instance was that at Froidterre, when the 
Germans had Captain Dartiges and his soldiers practically sur- 
rounded. At 9 A. M. he sent a pigeon back to announce that the 
enemy was within five hundred yards. At ten o'clock he sent 
another pigeon, announcing that the position was now entirely 
surrounded by the Huns. At eleven he sent a third pigeon, 
stating that the situation was critical, but that the garrison 
would fight to the last man. Thus kept in touch with the 
situation, the staff was able to take steps that resulted in break- 
ing the line around the garrison and rescuing Captain Dartiges 
and his brave fighters from their perilous position. 



260 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

MILLIONAIEE AS STABLEMAN. 

Lawrence Lewis, of Greenbriar Springs, Virginia, supposed 
to be worth $60,000,000, kept his identity a secret when he 
enlisted in the TJ. S. army. He was assigned to the artillery, 
and upon his arrival in France was transferred by his captain, 
Arthur L. Dasher, of Macon, Georgia, to the stables, with the 
rank of sergeant. This was done because he seemed to under- 
stand horses. He went at the work with genuine interest, and 
later it was learned he was spending all his army wages on the 
care of the horses entrusted to his oversight. When questioned 
about it, he replied: 

"Oh, I can afford it." 

By a little further inquiry his identity was disclosed. Then 
it became known that he was the owner of one of the best line 
of race-horses in America. 

Captain Dasher pressed the questioning, asking Mr. Lewis 
why he had hidden his identity. 

"Oh," replied the man, modestly, "I want to do my bit 
just like any other man. I stand in better with the other fellows 
as long as they don't know that I have a little more money than 
a lot of folks." 

SLEPT IN THE PALACE OF THE KING. 

King George of England, upon hearing that the Y. M. C. A. 
of London was unable to find sleeping-places for all the American 
soldiers that were arriving in such large numbers, soon after the 
United States began sending troops abroad, and that many of 
them might have to remain on the streets without beds, sent this 
word to those in charge: 

"Send one hundred American soldiers to the palace for bed 
and breakfast." 

Secretaries and their assistants quickly scouted the streets, 
found the desired number, and sent them to the king's palace 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 26^ 

in automobiles furnished by him and the Association, to be the 
guests of the king. 

When Secretary Young extended the invitation to a bunch 
of khaki-clad men, one of them made the characteristic American 
reply : 

' ' Ah, go on ! You 're kiddin ' us ! " 

"Jump into this auto and see," he replied. 

They hurriedly obeyed, landed at the palace, and rubbed their 
^eyes, hardly able to believe even then but what there was some 
joke about it. When assured again that it was all ''straight 
goods," a soldier with a happy grin drawled out: 

"Say, the king's all right, and so is the 'Y'." 

The next night the secretary was rounding up another bunch 
to take to the king's palace. He found several men in uniform 
in possession of a bottle of whisky, and asked : 

"Say, boys, where are you going to sleep to-night?" 

"We ain't goin' to sleep," replied the spokesman. 

"What do you say to a bed in the king's palace?" 

"That's better than sleepin' in the park, all right. We'll 
go." 

Although somewhat under the influence of liquor then, they 
came away sober and very thoughtful the next morning. 

The secretary found a soldier jabbering to a policeman. The 
officer did not want to put him in jail, even though he was intox- 
icated, so the "Y" man took him to the palace. It was better 
to be the guest of the king than the guest of the jailer. 

The next day all those boys were guests of the Y. M. C. A. 
■at a ball game where the king pitched the first ball, with every- 
thing free for the American soldiers. 

THE OTHEE ARMY IN WAE. 

We refer to the Salvation Army. An American officer, in 
speaking of the service rendered by these good women right up 



262 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

near the first-line trenches in the awful battles near Montdidier, 
said: 

They met every ammunition train going up to the trenches and every 
company coming out. They built fires in dugouts in the battle-zone and 
warmed the rain-soaked troopers ; they kept their cauldrons of cocoa con- 
stantly filled, and made doughnuts and pies in reliefs, day and night. 

Here is a poem written by Private Joseph T. Lopes, entitled 
"Those Salvation Folks": 

"Somewhere in Prance, not far from the foe, 
There's a body o{ workers whose name we all know; 
Who not only at home give their lives to make right. 
But are now here beside us, fighting our fight. 
What care they for rest when our boys at the front, 
Who, fighting for freedom, are bearing the brunt? 
And so, just at dawn, when the caissons come home 
With the boys tired out and chilled to the bone. 
The Salvation Army, with its brave little crew. 
Is waiting with doughnuts, and hot coffee too. 
When dangers and toiling are o'er for awhOe, 
In their dugouts we find comfort and welcome their smile. 
There's a spirit of home, so we go there each night. 
And thinking of home makes us sit down and write. 
So we tell of these folks to our loved ones with pride. 
And are thanking the Lord to have them on our side." 

MOEALE SERVICE ON TROOP TRAINS. 

The Boston Transcript describes the part the Y. M. C. A. 
played in the transporting of troops from the great American 
camps in the Southwest and West, showing that from the time 
the trains left until they reached the Atlantic ports of embarka- 
tion, everything possible was done for their entertainment and 
comfort. 

The trains were usually made up of fifteen Pullmans. The 
Y. M. C. A. secretary on board each train had his quarters in a 
drawing-room about half-way back, usually next to the dining- 
car. Here he received and read all letters written by the soldiers, 
censoring them and then mailing. He wired ahead for the morn- 
ing papers, one for each five or six men. 

He had with him all manner of games, and many kinds of 
musical instruments. The train would scarcely be well under 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 263 

way until he would go its entire length finding enlisted men who 
could do something in the line of entertainment — sing, recite, 
play some instrument, or make a speech. Often the negro porter 
was found to be clever at jig dancing, banjo playing and whis- 
tling. 

Twice each day entertainments were given in each of the 
fifteen cars. On at least one of the five days usually required 
for the journey, the secretary would conduct religious services in 
each car — ^a Bible reading, a prayer and hymns, the words of 
which were in books brought along with the Association outfit. 
The men in khaki often participated in the religious services with 
as much enthusiasm as in the entertainments. 

When opportunity afforded, as the train stopped at certain 
cities along the route, the entire body of uniformed men would 
march to the center of the city or court-house yard, and there 
give an entertainment, using the songs and other features given 
on the train. 

In this way the long journey across the continent was made 
pleasant and interesting from start to finish, with but little 
chance for a feUow to get homesick or lonesome who didn't want 
to give way to such feelings. 

SLACKERS 

MAERIED AND SINGLE SLACKERS. 

During wartimes it is difficult to foresee what course criti- 
cism wiU take along some lines. In the early part of America's 
entrance into the war, young men who were getting married 
were often called slackers, the supposition being that they were 
entering wedlock to avoid military service. 

The same thing happened in other countries, particularly En- 
gland. There the denouncing of those who married after the war 
began became so unpleasant that a decrease in weddings and an 



264 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

alarming decrease in. the birth-rate aroused the Government to 
the importance of encouraging marriages in every honorable way 
possible. 

This caused a reader of an Eastern paper to write: 

The resulting opinion must be that we may soon find ourselves in the 
position of the English people — trying to reverse ourselves, and in vain. 
The term "marriage slacker" should be abolished, and each case stand on 
its individual merits as to whether affording grounds for exemption from 
military service or not. 

Many couples in America were married with the deliberate 
understanding that the husband would make no effort to evade 
military service, and yet they were classed as slackers. "We 
Americans are too apt to jump to conclusions. 

MADE A TEERIBLE BLUNDER. 

Lord Northcliffe said: "Shame has driven many a man into 
the ranks of the army, and in this regard we have to thank the 
women of the nation for turning a would-be slacker into an excel- 
lent soldier." 

Sometimes, however, the women were overzealous and made 
embarrassing blunders. On a London bus was a young man who 
offered his seat to a woman, when she drew herself up haughtily 
and exclaimed so that the others could hear: 

' ' I don 't accept favors from slackers ! ' ' 

But the young man was not taken back. On the contrary, he 
was very cool as he viewed her critically and said: 

''Madam, I was all through Gallipoli, and if we had had as 
much powder down there as you have on your face, results would 
have been different." 

The reproof was well deserved. People resting safely at home, 
whether men or women, and spending money for things in excess 
of their reasonable requirements, are just as much slackers as 
able-bodied men who endeavor to shirk their duty toward the 
Government. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 265 

BOND SLACKER DUCKED IN BAY, 

During the fourth Liberty Loan drive, all of the workmen 
but one in a branch of the Standard Oil Company, at Emery- 
ville, California, on the San Francisco Bay, had purchased bonds. 
This man had persistently refused to buy, thus preventing his 
co-laborers from making the place a 100 per cent, institution. 
So one day they deliberately carried him two blocks and dumped 
him into the bay. The water was shallow at that point, and 
after he scrambled out and shook the water from his clothing, 
he hastened to a bank and bought a bond. 

TRAPPING THE SLACKERS. 

Many a man, in attempting to avoid military service, has no 
doubt concluded that ''honesty is the best policy." The Popular 
Science Monthly contained an illustrated article showing how men 
making a pretense of physical disability were detected, and 
forced into some military branch of the U. S. Government. 

The man who pretended to be deaf didn't move when blind- 
folded and an iron chair was dropped near him. ''If you were 
actually deaf," he was told, "you would have jumped from the 
vibration. ' ' 

The one who pretended weak eyes and that he couldn't read 
large letters at twenty feet, but could read the reflection of the 
same letters at a distance of ten feet, was informed that "reflec- 
tion equalized the distance." 

An electric device showed muscular reaction on one side and 
one arm of the man who said those parts of his body were 
paralyzed. 

A man who exhibited an apparently sore spot on his arm was 
blindfolded while the doctor pressed in many places. The blind- 
folded slacker couldn't tell where the first spot was located. 

Another who said he was deaf in the left ear was tested by 
a stethoscope with the right tube plugged, while the doctor held 



266 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

a watch, at the receiver, and asked: "Can you hear this watch, 
tick?" ''Yes," was the reply. "That's goodl You heard it 
with your left ear I" 

One who claimed to be blind in the right eye was so mixed 
up by the doctor holding various colored glasses in front of him 
that he was soon reading normally and seeing with both eyes. 

And so for every conceivable form of deception Uncle Sam 
was prepared to catch the slacker in a manner he least suspected. 

SHOUTING SLACKERS SILENCED. 

It will be remembered that a few days before the armistice 
was signed, practically ending the war, the civilized world was 
thrown into convulsions of joy by the report that Germany had 
surrendered. Although officially denied, that did not prevent 
American cities from celebrating informally and in wild enthu- 
siasm the supposed ending of hostilities. 

While such a celebration was in progress in New York City, 
there was one man in the mad scene who was very quiet. He 
took the official denial as the truth, and, while he was pressing 
his way down Broadway through the frantic flag-wavers and 
the ear-splitting din, a crowd of shouting young fellows in their 
early twenties stopped the silent man, and one of their number 
called to him in an officious manner: 

"Hey, you! Where's your flag?" 

The man looked straight in the eyes of his questioner as he 
replied : 

"My son is fighting for it over in France, and he is just 
about your age." 

The shouting slackers saw the point, and the crestfallen group 
silently slunk away in the din of the great thoroughfare. 

IT WAS WORK OR FIGHT. 

When the U. S. Government, in the conduct of its part of 
the war, made a rule that every able-bodied citizen must "work 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 267 

or fight," it created a stir among the slackers. That a man may 
have a "job" and still be a slacker was later discovered. 
Colonel Koosevelt, in u. stirring address on the subject, said: 

If any riveter in a shipyard drives only sixty rivets wliere he coiild 
drive 120, he has driven sixty for freedom and he has left sixty undriven 
for the sake of the HohenzoUerns. If any man works three days at high 
wages and loafs the next three because of the high wages he has received 
during the first three, he is an enemy to America and an ally of the Kaiser. 
If any man, if any capitalist, makes an undue profit, or if any workman 
ficants his job, he is playing the game of tyranny against liberty, and he is 
false to bis brothers in uniform at the front. 

Here are verses from one of Nixon Waterman's poems along 
the same line: 

"If beside a war-torn soldier 
You should stand, would you withhold your 

Needed succor that would help him win the fray! 

Don't you think that it will hurt Mm '' 

Quite as much if we desert him. 

Jest because he fights three thousand miles away! 

"Though we make a bluff at working, 

While at heart we still are shirking. 
And we care not, so we somehow "get the mon," 

If to save ourselves we're trying, 

While our soldier men are dying. 
We are nasty little brothers to the Hun." 

WHEN THE SLACKER REFLECTS. 

Sergt. R. B. Bimms, of Oakland, California, with the Amer- 
ican troops in France, is the author of the following verses: 

"Slacker, you sit in your easy chair. 
Thanking the Lord you're not over there, 
Where the cannons roar and the brave men die. 
And dying, perhaps, unburied lie. 
Tou may have purchased a bond or two. 
And imagine that is enough to do. 

"But some day after the war is done. 
And victory by the brave is won. 
You'll see men sneer as they pass you by. 
And you'll wish you'd not been afraid to die, 
For what is the life of a coward worth 
When he hasn't a friend on the lonely earth 1 



268 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

"But the world may consent to forget some day. 
And when it has done so what will you say 
To the grandson as he loohs up to you, 
Saying, 'Tell me, grandpa, what did you do!' 
Why, you'd give your life for the right to say, 
'I fought for God and the U. S. A.' " 

SLACKER CHANGES HIS MIND. 

Some one has said that "information must precede inspira- 
tion. ' ' A man who had been- hiding in the mountains of Colo- 
rado for more than a year, in order to escape military service 
in the great war, one day happened to get hold of a newspaper 
containing an account of a German submarine raid off the coast 
of New Jersey. He rushed to a recruiting-station and surren- 
dered himself, with a demand that he be sent at once to fight the 
enemy. When he realized that our own country was in danger 
he was ready to serve. 

STRATEGY 

QUICK WIT OF MARINE PRISONER. 

Stars and Stripes, in one of its issues during the summer of 
1918, gave the wonderful story of how Private Frank Lenert, a 
nineteen-year-old Marine from Chicago, marched back from the 
battlefront at midnight, leading eighty-two German prisoners. 

The intelligence officer had turned in for a good rest. Lenert 
called out in the darkness: 

"Hello! Say! Come on down! I got some prisoners, I 
have ! ' ' 

"Well," said the lieutenant, "stick them in a shed some- 
where, and I'll be down and look them over." 

"I guess I'll have to hire a hall," was the reply. 

The officer thought it was just a little bit of Yankee bragga- 
docio, but when he finally stumbled downstairs and out into the 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 269 

moonlight, he was surprised to see the road filled with Germans, 
drawn up in full array. 

"Where in the name of all that's wonderful did you get all 
these?" he inquired, rubbing his eyes as if to make sure he was 
seeing straight. 

"Oh," said Lenert, cheerfully, "they just came along." 

The lieutenant knew better, and made up his mind he would 
find out. The whole story as it later developed showed that the 
young Marine got lost from his battalion during a fierce battle, 
and, while trying to find his comrades in the darkness of the 
woods, stumbled into a German company. He was dragged 
before the German captain, who put him through a hurried exami- 
nation, conducted in German, which the prisoner could speak 
fluently. 

He bent over the map they showed him, and with apparent 
reluctance described the position of the various American regi- 
ments, till he had conveyed the impression that this nest of 
Germans was virtually surrounded. With keen eyes he saw they 
were much disturbed, and, taking advantage of their fears, him- 
self pretended fear and said earnestly: 

"And I want to get out of here! There's a lull now, but 
they're going to turn the artillery on this patch of woods and 
blow it to bits. I don't want to be here! I want to get out 
right now! " 

The German captain held a hurried consultation with his 
lieutenants, then, to the surprise of the nineteen-year-old Yankee 
wit, surrendered himself and the whole bunch. 

But the boy did not permit even this to confuse him.. With 
wonderful coolness, he ordered them to throw down their arms, 
which they did, and to follow him. Chuckling to think they 
were not going to be blown to bits, they obeyed his every com- 
mand, stumbling on and on in the darkness until he landed them 
in the care of the lieutenant at the regimental headquarters. 



270 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

FOCH'S FINE STRATEGY EEVEALED. 

The importance of planning for a certain course of proce- 
dure and then "working the plan," instead of trusting to luck 
or circumstances, was perhaps never more conspicuously empha- 
sized than in the turning of the tide against the Germans. 

Thirteen days before Hindenburg launched his last great 
offensive, in July, 1918, General Foeh, commander of all the 
allied forces, sitting quietly in his study at headquarters, mapped 
out the brilliant counterstroke by which the Germans were so 
quickly thrown back, defeated, from the Marne. 

When the critical situation caused by the German offensives 
in March, May and June had developed. General Pershing offered 
the American troops for use wherever Marshal Foch should see 
fit to employ them. Some Americans, here at home, with no 
knowledge of the real situation on the battle-front, were dis- 
appointed because our soldiers were not all used at one point, 
but be it said to the credit of our loyal citizens, there was no 
resentment at this, every one feeling that with such a man as 
General Pershing in charge of our boys, everything would be 
done for the best for all concerned. 

And so it proved to be, in a most wonderful way. It was 
then that Foch initiated the plan of putting the American sol- 
diers into many sectors, instead of one or two, not only because 
they were fresh and good fighters, but for the moral effect on 
the Germans who were to discover Americans opposite them 
nearly every twenty kilometers along the whole battle-front, thus 
counteracting the German propaganda stories to the effect that 
we had but few troops in France. 

The result was just as anticipated — ^breaking of the morale 
of the German soldiers, an onward sweep of the allied forces, 
and the turning of the tide in the great war. Amerioans saved 
the day, and they did it according to the fine strategy of General 
Foch. 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 271 



SYMPATHY 

WHY NO MESSAGE CAME. 

A Y. M. C. A. worker in London saw that a Belgian girl 
of about eighteen, who was waiting upon him in a restaurant, 
was wiping tears from her eyes. His heart was touched, and he 
spoke kindly to her: 

"What's the matter, my child?" 

"I came over on the boat from Belgium early in the war," 
she said, "and my mother and sisters got scattered, and I have 
never seen or heard of them since." 

A little later one of the women in charge of the restaurant 
said to him: 

"We dare not tell her, but they were all killed." 

PEESIDENT PARDONED DESEETER. 

That "circumstances alter cases" is shown once more — this 
time when President Wilson pardoned Private Clarence Sperry, 
who had deserted from his camp in Texas, and was arrested at 
his home in Oklahoma. 

The President learned that the sole cause of the desertion 
was the soldier's anxiety for his family. His wife had been 
paralyzed and his three children were destitute. President Wil- 
son, in issuing the pardon to Sperry, referred to the "very proper 
solicitude for his family." 

This is America. Such a course in one of the old, autocratic 
governments would have been considered weak and foolish. Here 
it is considered simply human, saturated with that brotherly love 
which prevails from the chief executive down to the humblest 
citizen. 

THE GOLDEN RULE IN WAR. 

Eev. Arthur J. Francis, who was in France in the interests 
of the American Red Cross, was walking along a street in a 

18 



272 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

village one day when he saw in the garden of a home three 
graves, all equally cared for. One' bore the inscription, "A 
German soldier;" the next, "A French soldier," and the third, 
"A German soldier." 

Within the enclosure were a mother and her daughters, tilling 
the soil. Interest and curiosity prompted him to ask the woman 
the history of the three graves. 

"When the Germans took the village," she explained, "we 
were obliged to leave our home. When we returned wc found 
three dead bodies in our grounds — one French soldier and two 
Germans. My daughters and I buried them, as you see." 

"But," said Mr. Francis, "they are all cared for alike. 
How does that come about?" 

"Oh, we care for the graves of the German soldiers as I 
should like to have some German woman care for the grave 
of my son." 

And this in the face of all that the French people had suf- 
fered at the hands of the Germans. 

TRAGIC TALE SADDENS SOLDIERS. 

Lieut. Carl A. Johnson, of the 126th Regiment, U. S. A., 
and formerly with the Michigan National Guards, in a letter 
written in France to home folks, said: 

Yon irnist come here to know to what extent human suffering can throw 
a nation. We saw it all to-day — all in one. A woman of sixty years or 
more came to this little French town in which our Michigan boys are 
billeted. She was on her way, she knew not where. As she entered the 
village over the muddy and rocky road, every American soldier stopped and 
gazed at her. She was wrinkled, ragged and dirty. Her feet were bare 
and bleeding. In all my experience I have beheld no sight which so gripped 
ray heart and weighed down my soul as the plight of this wretched human 
being. 

She stopped in a little store. The soldiers gathered around her in won- 
derment and pity, and a corporal, who is of French extraction and speaks 
the language, engaged her in conversation. You may have heard pitiful 
tales of domestic misfortune, but never could you in the wildest flight of 
imagination conceive of a scene like this. 

Before the war this woman, whose features still showed traces of re- 
finement and beauty — now almost extinct in the suffering women of north- 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 273 

em France — lived near the border of France and Germany. She was the 
mother in a happy family, with a husband, a daughter and two song. 

Tho Huns captured the town, subjecting the daughter in this once happy 
home to the most vulgar and inhuman indecencies, and shot the father 
when he protested at the treatment she received from the Germans. The 
battle raged there for days. The mother and daughter fled, until the daugh- 
ter, exhausted and suffering, died one night upon the roadside. About the 
same time the woman learned that one of her sons had been killed in battle. 
Where the other was she never heard. 

Crazed with grief, this poor woman began to wander, without object or 
aim. For four years she has walked over the hills of France. It is no 
reflection on the strength or bravery of your Michigan lads to say that there 
wasn't a dry eye among those who heard that story. 

The boys wanted her to stay. They took up a collection. One who had 
no money gave her a pair of woolen socks, another his Red Cross scarf, 
and another bought her a pair of shoes. But she wouldn't stay. She could 
be content nowhere. She thought she might yet find her other son, and 
must be going. And so she trudged on, poor, bleeding soul, to go over 
more rocky roads and muddy hills. 

Every Michigan boy was a better soldier and a better man for having 
seen and heard her. 

NEGRO'S SYMPATHY FOE CHILD. 

In a truck loaded with, women and children refugees that 
came from the town of Wadelincourt, near Sedan, after the 
Germans were forced to surrender and evacuate, was a sick boy, 
not more than six years of age. He was crying and coughing. 
His mother was endeavoring to comfort him, but it was a trying 
ordeal all around, for it was a cold, rainy day, with the rain 
coming straight down, like long strings suspended from the sky, 
as Damon Eunyon described it. The truck bounced from side to 
side as the wheels lunged into holes made by shells. It was a 
very uncomfortable trip for those who were well, but a most 
miserable one for the little sick boy. 

Finally the truck reached the town of Buzancy, where a 
number of American soldiers were walking around in huge rubber 
hip boots. Presently an American negro came along. He heard 
the boy crying and coughing, and stopped to peer into the van. 

''That's a bad cough the liP boy has," said he, wisely; 
"that's the ole hoopin '-cough, suah as Ah'm a-livin'. That's 
a bad thing for a lil' boy." 



274 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

Then he was quiet, as if in deep thought. While the truck 
was still standing there in the rain, he sloshed down the muddy 
street. After awhile he came back, with a small package in his 
hand. The child was still crjdng pitifully, except when he 
stopped to cough. The negro reached up into the van and 
pushed something into the child's hands. It was a cooky! 

The little fellow stopped crying, looked at the negro with 
wondering eyes, then commenced munching the cake. Even his 
coughing seemed to lessen, the black man was pleased to observe, 
as he started away. 

It was a little thing, perhaps, but it all showed that a white 
heart of real sympathy was beating beneath the black breast of 
the American negro, who loved little children so much that he 
forgot all else for the time being, in his desire to bring comfort 
to the little sufferer in the big truck on that rainy day in 
November, 1918, in far-away France. 

COMFORTING THE BEREAVED. 

One phase of war conditions called for work so quietly done 
that but comparatively few, perhaps, realize its great importance, 
and that was the work of the chaplains. When our troops were 
in France, fghting and dying, it was often the chaplain who 
was by the side of the dying man to comfort and aid in any way 
possible, and to later write a letter to the bereaved ones at home. 

One young soldier died in a hospital of wounds received in 
battle. Here are extracts from the letter the chaplain, who was 
with him to the last, wrote to the sorrowing wife in Missouri: 

There is little I can say that will console you in your sorrow, but it 
may help you to know that your husband was a good soldier, as brave in 
the hospital as in battle, and that he died at peace with God and man. 
His comrades laid his body away with military honors and the rites of our 
Christian faith. The grave is properly marked and its location is ofSciaUy 
recorded. If there is any service I can render you in connection with 
your husband's affairs, you will please let me know. 

May God bless you and sustain the women of America who have a 
heavy cross to bear in this war. 



^ FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 275 

BLIND WOMAN TO BLIND SOLDIERS. 

It is said no one can sympathize with a mother in the loss 
of a child like some mother who herself has lost a child. So it 
is no doubt true that no one can sympathize with soldiers who 
came home from the great war blinded like one who has lived 
the life of the blind, 

Helen Kellei', in sending $500 to the Permanent Blind Relief 
War Fund for Soldiers and Sailors of the Allies, wrote thus feel- 
ingly to the secretary: 

Every word you say about the brave soldier boys blinded in battle 
goes straight to my heart. I keep picturing to myself their first waking in 
the dark, and thank God that there will be those near to comfort them 
and give them new hope through work. Work, useful work, will help 
draw out the sting of their blindness. Happy is the man who finds a 
task to occupy his mind and his hand ! 

There is another consolation that the boys will discover later. When 
the outside world no longer fills our thoughts, we find that the inner world 
has its own joys a.id allurements. And very precious they are. For 
one thing, there is the pleasure of thinking quietly all by oneself. Most 
people have never explored their own minds. They have no idea of the 
treasures hidden away in their natures. 

SYSTEM 

HOW AN ENSIGN WAS CAUGHT. 

An ensign in the U. S. navy, commissioned soon after America 
entered the war, believed in showing his authority, so ordered 
a Jackie to salute him fifty times because he had neglected to 
salute in passing. While this was in progress an old navy 
ofl&cer came along and inquired the meaning. The ensign proudly 
explained. 

"Just one minute, lad," said the officer when the jackie had 
completed the task; "the ensign is going to return the salutes 
now ! ' ' 

SPEED AND EFFICIENCY. 

The success of such an attack as obliterated the St. Mihiel 
salient in France is usually dependent on the speed with which 



276 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

each separate unit in the assault moves up at the eleventh hour 
to its appointed position. 

One entire battery, with guns, carriages, ammunition, horses, 
kitchen equipment, personnel^ etc., sufdcient to pack a train of 
fifty cars, was put on to that train the day before the attack 
of the Allies in exactly fourteen minutes. Every man knew just 
what he was to do, and did it with the precision of clockwork. 

EE TREATING ACCORDING TO PLAN. 

The German custom of systematizing everything was carried 
into every phase of the war. In the early period of the great 
struggle, their advance toward Paris, as given in the German 
reports, was to be so many miles each day, "according to plan." 
Even when forced to retreat, the Germans couldn't shake off the 
idea but what they were acting ''according to plan," as will bo 
seen in this, one of General LudendorfP's last official communica- 
tions to the German army before he was forced out for playing 
politics : 

"We are falling back according to a prearranged plan, for 
our own good fatherland is in danger, and I expect every man 
to do his duty." 

Just how much sense of duty a German soldier must feel in 
order to get away from danger, "according to plan," Ludendorff 
did not state. His order, a copy of which was found in the 
town of St. Leger, also contained the following: 

"Don't lose your heads in case of capture. Don't give up 
any information, as it will benefit the enemy." 

TEMPERANCE 

GERMAN TRICK ON RUSSIANS. 

One of the German schemes to conquer Russia was to evacuate 
a town and leave it full of wine and other liquors, hoping that 
the Russian soldiers would imbibe of it and become an easy prey 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 277 

■while intoxicated. The Eusisans fell to the trick and in many 
places were easily captured. 

WHOLE REGIMENT GOES DRY. 

The 158th Infantry, formerly the First Arizona Infantry, 
which was sent to France, took an oath, every man in it joining 
in the agreement, to drink no intoxicating liquor during the 
period of the war. 

GREAT BRITAIN'S HANDICAP. 

As noble as was the fight made by Great Britain in the war, 
many of her citizens realized all the time that she was tolerating 
a most serious handicap — the liquor evil. So strong was the 
liquor-dealers' influence that every effort to curb the traffic was 
doomed to either partial or complete failure, particularly during 
the earlier part of the great struggle. 

A pamphlet entitled '' Victory or Defeat," intended to arouse 
the citizens of England to the true condition of affairs, relating 
to liquor, was suppressed. Here are a few paragraphs from the 
pamphlet, the truth of which would probably have been useless 
for any one to attempt to deny: 

Drink has stolen one pound of food a day from every home in England 
since the war began. 

England would have 3,500,000 tons more of food had she stopped the 
manufacture of liquor when the war began. 

All London could have been fed for the past three years on the foods 
that have gone into liquor. 

The land wasted on drink would make a farm a mile wide from 
England to America. 

We devote as much land to beer and whisky in England as to bread. 

This is not all. In November, 1918, after the war was over, 
the official statement was made that 4,400,000,000 cigarettes 
were provided the British soldiers each year, at an annual cost 
of $30,000,000. 

When the liquor and tobacco interests get control the most 
glaring inconsistencies are permitted in the face of the fact that 



278 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

the best interests of the country demand soldiers and civilians 
free from the use of alcohol or nicotine in any form. The great 
war has proven it so in practically every nation participating. 
America woke up on the liquor question, but permitted the 
cigarette evil to flourish as never before. It will take many 
years to undo the injury inflicted by the craze of providing 
cigarettes for the soldiers on the false ground that they were 
thus rendered a helpful service. 

DRUNK SOLDIER BELIEVED INSANE. 

The beautiful resort town of Aix-les-Bains, in France, was 
chosen by General Pershing as a proper place where our dough- 
boys might while away the time when on their leave of absence. 
In the town were all manner of harmless amusements, which 
were enjoyed by the Yanks to the limit. 

In the course of time two men arrived there to investigate 
social conditions among the American soldiers. They had a 
series of blanks for recording statistics on any social shortcom- 
ings that might be found.. They left with this one entry: 

"One drunk, believed insane." 

This was published as an indication of the uniform sobriety 
of our boys in France. 

''DON'T TELL THE FOLKS. »» 

The Y. M. C. A. workers who accompanied the soldiers when 
en route from point to point, on land, or on the overseas trips, 
sometimes had unusual experiences. Here is one, however, that 
perhaps stands in a class by itself: 

On a troop train bound for an Atlantic port, where the sol- 
diers were to board a ship for France, was just one man who 
was drunk, he having managed in some way to get liquor before 
the train started. In his intoxicated condition lie became very 
ugly. He teased a foreigner until the latter struck him with 
his fist. This so enraged the drunken man that it took three 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 279 

of his comrades tc keep Mm in his seat or hold him on the 
floor. He was determined to get his assailant. Finally the 
*'T" man suggested: 

"The only thing to do is to tie him.'' 

There was no rope but the bell-rope, and the conductor said: 

"Take that; I'll help you get it." 

When the unruly mail was overpowered and held in the grip 
of the soldiers, the ' < Y " man, with watch in hand and pointing 
to the rope, said with determination, but kindly: 

"Here, you — ^now listen to me. I'll give you just three 
minutes to get quiet, or we'll tie you, and you'll stay tied too. 
Here is the bunch just itching to tie you. Do you get met" 

"Oh," said the fellow, "you are that 'Y' man, are you? 
What can you do?" 

"Never mind who I am or what I can do. I've got the 
watch on you, and one minute has gone. You have two minutes 
more to get quiet and stay quiet, or be tied for fair ! ' ' 

In thirty seconds he was one of the most quiet men on the 
train. In half an hour he apologized most humbly to the secre- 
tary, and begged: 

"You won't teU the folks, will you? I wouldn't have my 
mother know this for aU the world. I'm sorry, just as sorry 
as I can be, and I feel like a fool!" 

THOUGHTFULNESS 

LONG-DELAYED WEDDING. 

In the early part of November, 1918, the daughter of a Cleve- 
land (O.) couple thought she would get rid of an undesirable 
suitor who was very anxious to marry her, when she said to him: 
"I will marry you when the Kaiser wins the war." 
Evidently he was too dumb to appreciate the sarcasm of the 
remark, for he went away very hopeful. Within a week from 
that time the Kaiser was forced to abdicate and flee for his life. 

19 



280 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

THE GLORY OF FATHER AND MOTHER. 

Carl F. Foley, a soldier stationed at Camp Merritt, in a 
letter to his parents, at Augusta, Kentucky, written just before 
sailing for France, realized, as many of our American boys 
expressed it, that the greater honor for whatever may have been 
accomplished by war, must be to the father and mother who 
gave up a son to fight for humanity. In this letter he said: 

If I can depart with, your cheers in my ears and your smiles in my 
vision, my heart shall be light. None has more right to cheer or to smile 
than you. All can not give as you have given. When monuments shall 
rise to meet the sky in memory of those who sleep somewhere out there, 
I hope its base, the foundation, shall have engraved upon it the words, 
"Mother — Father," for truly the glory of it all rests upon their shoulders. 

Then, dry the tears you have shed and cry no more. Share the honor 
with me, and when peace crowns the onslaught I hope to come back to you. 
I have no fear, for that which is to be, must be ; and if I do not return 
with the rest, remember I was willing to slumber with the host of martyrs 
to a common cause. 

THE TRAIL OF THE CHILDREN. 

A group of soldiers in France, standing on the comer of an 
almost deserted village near the front-line trenches, were eating 
lunch which they had just purchased at a canteen, when some 
children begged for money. Back a little farther the soldiers 
noticed two small girls caring for a younger brother. These 
were unusually quiet and not asking for anything. They looked 
hungry, and the soldiers gave them some of their biscuits and 
crackers. 

They were surprised to observe that the children did not eat 
the food given them, but started oif quickly and eagerly with 
it. The men in khaki decided to follow. The trail led to a 
broken-down and barren billet. Stepping after the children into 
the stone-paved room, they saw them give the food to a middle- 
aged woman lying on a bed of straw, with nothing but an old 
shawl to cover her. She was the mother of the children, and 
they were with refugees who had passed that way just a few 
days before. 



FOR PUBUC SPEAKERS 281^ 

Seeing the soldiers, the mother was alarmed, but the girls 
told her of their kindness to them. The friendly look and kindly 
interest of the young men seemed to quiet her fears. She was 
ill, and explained to them how she had come to this place and 
was too weak, to go farther, and had no one to befriend her and 
her little ones. 

Assuring her that they were not intruders, but American sol- 
diers, she staggered across the room, pulled aside a cloth in 
the corner, and uncovered the body of a nine-months-old baby, 
which had been dead three days. She had been too sick to bury 
it, nor could she have given it a suitable burial, anyway. 

Every well-informed American knows what happened. Those 
noble fellows went out quietly and quickly, took up a collection 
among their comrades, sent food to the family, brought help to 
care for the sick woman, bought a coffin and made all arrange- 
ments for a funeral for the little dead babe — just like our Amer- 
ican boys. 

The hungry, pinched faces of the children of France and 
Belgium were always objects of the deepest solicitude and help- 
fulness to our American soldiers "over there." 

TREACHERY 

PIANO EXPLODES AND KILLS MEN. 

A wounded U. S. soldier, after returning to America, related 
this incident of German treachery: 

"When the Americans captured Chateau- Thierry they found 
one house there that had not been hit by the shells and was in 
good condition. It was nicely furnished and there was a grand 
piano in the drawing-room. The house had evidently been used 
as a headquarters by some of the German officers. The American 
officers were delighted, and decided to use it for their own head- 
quarters. One of them sat down at the open piano and started 



282 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

to play. The next moment there was a terrific explosion, and 
the piano was blown up, the side of the room blown out, and 
most of the officers in it were killed." 

SWIFT PUNISHMENT FOE SPIES, 

At the time the Italian army was apparently weakening and 
was being driven back by the Austrians, as was learned later, the 
Germans had planted in the Italian army Austrians in Italian 
uniforms, spies educated in military schools in Milan and speak- 
ing Italian perfectly. These spies, posing as Italian officers, 
actually ordered retreat and surrender, and used the Italian 
military telephones to order the withdrawal of forces from ad- 
vanced positions. 

Whether or not this caused the IT. S. Government to take 
drastic action in case any similar circumstances came to light in 
our own army in France, is not known, but the following, which 
appeared in one of the great American newspapers, was sig- 
nificant : 

Interesting work by spies is indicated in the order that tells American 
soldiers, in the course of battle, to shoot dead any man on their side, 
officer or private, who suggests surrender or a let-up in the fighting. 

TEEACHERY BEHIND MEECY. SIGNS. ' 

Some American soldiers saw a group of Germans, with Red 
Cross bands upon their arms, making their way toward the 
Yankee positions, carrying a blanket-covered stretcher, handling 
it most tenderly, until within fifty feet of the Americans, when 
they quickly set it upon the ground, tore aside the blanket, and 
poured a rain of bullets from a hidden machine gun into the 
American positions. 

These same soldiers found a hospital corps boy dead who 
had been shot by a German sniper while he was busy earing 
for a wounded man in an open field. One hand of the dead 
boy still clutched the scissors with which he was cutting a 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 283 

bandage. The Eed Cross brassard showed upon his arm, but 
that did not save him from the cruel Hun. 

AMERICAN SOLDIERS ''ANALYZE" WATER. 

Sergt. ''Bill" Harvey, of the New York Marines, wounded 
in France, while fighting in the region of Belleau Wood, said 
in an interview upon his return to the United States: 

I've been told that Belleau in French means "heantiful water." Maybe 
it does, but the only beautiful water we saw in those woods was in our 
canteens. We were afraid to drink any water we came across, not know- 
ing whether or not it had been poisoned by the Huns. 

One day we came to a well with a pump, and some of our boys wanted 
to drink it, but one of them said: "Wait a minute; I've got a scheme." We 
waited, and pretty soon some of our men came along with a group of 
German prisoners taking them to the rear. We called the prisoners over 
and told them to take a drink of that well water. They went white and 
said they were not thirsty. 

Then one of our boys pointed his rifle at the Hun he was particularly 
speaking to, and told him he'd drill a hole right through him unless he 
took a drink from that well. The man took the drink. Inside of two 
hours he was dead — poisoned with the water he and his fellows had fised 
up for us Marines. 

That way of finding out about the water may strike some tender- 
hearted people as a little rough, but we hadn't any other way of analyzing 
that water at that time ; and that Hun didn't get any more than he de- 
served, anyhow. He died in a good cause, which is more than most of 
them. do. 

HUNS INVENT "KAMERAD" WEAPON. 

An American artillery officer brought back with him from 
France a "kamerad pistol," which he first exhibited to the 
soldiers at Camp Meade, Maryland. The treachery for which the 
weapon was made, and as used by Germans in the war, stirred 
our enlisted men just as many were first stirred by German 
atrocities, for this pistol had no other use than that of killing 
the captor while pretending to surrender to him. 

The pistol fits between the third and fourth finger, and by 
the upheld hand is completely concealed. It requires only a 
slight pressure to discharge it. The bullet is of 22 caliber, or 
smaller, and of brass. 



284 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

The fiendish ingenuity of the manufacturer and inventor is 
such that but little skill is required to bend the wrist and fire the 
pistol directly into the face of the captor. At close range the 
bullet has force enough to kill. 

A GERMAN SPY AND HIS FINISH. 

Lieut. Bernard Rhodes, of the 407th Telegraph Battalion, 
serving in France, writing to his folks in America, told how the 
German spies even got in the armies of their enemies, and relates 
this incident: 

At the beginning of the great drive of the Allies, in 1918^ 
a British major-general was directing the movements of his 
division, when a British staff car drove up and out sprang a man 
attired as a British officer, saying to the general: 

"Sir, the division on your right has been forced back and 
your flank is in the air. Orders are that your division will fall 
back to this place," indicating a point on the map some two 
miles in the rear. 

The unsuspecting general was preparing to obey, when a 
Canadian colonel standing near said to the stranger: 

"That's funny. I've been on duty some time with that 
division, and I don't remember you." 

The stranger allowed that was 'ijueer, too, saying he knew 
all the units of the division, and called their officers by their 
first names, besides handing out other information that was ap- 
parently correct. StUl the Canadian was skeptical, and insisted 
on seeing the man's papers. The other went through the move- 
ments of searching his pockets, and then said he came away in 
such a hurry that he had forgotten them. 

The Canadian insisted that the man be searched, then and 
there. It was done. They found papers, all right, only they 
were written in that language that defined treaties as "scraps 
of paper." 

The lieutenant concluded the incident in his letter as follows: 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 285 

Well, there was plenty of good, first-class material at hand for a firing 
squad. The chauffeur who brought the man in the car was a Hun, too, 
so the soldiers had a little party, and the only thing they didn't shoot up 
was the car. The division is still in the same place, and so are the two 
Huns, each with several bullet-holes where the Iron Cross might have 
been. 

UNSELFISHNESS 

HOW WOMEN SETTLED A QUESTION. 

Two women at Bristol, England, who had been standing side 
by side in a long line in front of a shop where margarine was 
being handed out, in accordance with the war regulations then 
in force, reached the counter at the same time, just as the last 
half-pound was being weighed. Each had an equal claim to it, 
but the man in charge was at a loss to know how to make a 
decision. The matter was settled, however, by the women them- 
selves. One turned to the other and asked: 

"Have you any little ones at home to feed?" 

"Yes, I have three," was the answer. 

"Well, then, you take it. I have only two. Maybe I'll 
have better luck next time." 

ON THE WAITING-LIST. 

An advanced dressing-station on the western front in France 
was receiving a steady stream of soldiers on stretchers — wounded, 
gassed, shell-shocked. Some of them seemed just boys. And yet 
they were so optimistic and brave. 

"Hard luck?" said a doctor interrogatively to one, as the 
bearers set down a stretcher in the courtyard. 

The boy shrugged his shoulders and grinned as he said: 

"Coming fine, if I can get you fellers to save that foot. It's 
smashed plenty. If you can't, all the same." 

"We'll run you right in," said the doctor, kindly. 

"No, no, not me," said the boy, bravely. "I'm getting 
along all right — nothing but my foot. You just let me be here 



286 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

and get busy with them guys that's hurt. I'm on the waiting- 
Kst." 

HE PAID THE PRICE. 

Charles A. Matthias, of Green Farms, Connecticut, was twenty- 
three years of age when he was killed in a rest-camp in France. 
He and some other soldiers were resting in a house when the 
alarm came to make for a dugout. He went to the door to see 
if it was safe to start at once. Just then a shell burst outside, 
and he was so seriously wounded that he died soon after. While 
receiving attention in a dressing-station, he looked up into the 
face of the one who was caring for him and said with burning 
enthusiasm : 

"Thank God they didn't get the other fellows! If I am 
to pay the price, I will." 

"IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME." 

One of the Y. M. C. A. workers in France, in a meeting of 
men just back from the fighting-line, was preparing to hand out 
some cards on which the soldiers were to write down things in 
response to his request, when one of them stood up and said: 
* ' I know who is the best man in my regiment ! ' ' 
"Wait a minute," said the speaker, "we want you to write 
the things on the cards." 

"Let him say what he's got to say!" some one called out. 
and others joined in the request. 

"All right," said the "Y" man, "go ahead." 
"Well, it's this way," said the soldier, still standing. 
^'When we were going in the other night, on our way to the 
trenches, I forgot my blanket. It was cold too. You fellows 
know that," he said as he turned toward them for the instant. 
"And it looked to me like I was going to freeze out there. But 
when my pal found out the fix I was in, instead of guying me 
for being such a fool as to forget my stuff, he took out his 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 287 

knife and cut Ms own blanket in two and gave me half of it I 
I don't know whether that's what the preachers would call being 
good — ^but it 's good enough for me ! " 

VICTORY 

NOVEMBER 11, 1918. 

The agony is done, the darkness over; 

Evil that ravished and burned dies at last; 
The beast with bloody mouth has run to cover; 

The hosts of light are marching far and fast. 

"Freedom is wonl" and all mankind rejoices I 

Women and men shall build them homes again; 
Beauty shall speak with her unnumbered voices, 
Wisdom shall answer from the mouths of men. 

The hungry shall be fed, the grieving cherished, 
The kind be honored and the poor made strong; 

The beast that knew no truth — the beast has perished I 
We are set free for work and love and song! 

— Margaret WilJcinson, in Grit. 

WE HAVE WON. 

Steuart M. Emery is the author of the following poem, which 
appeared in the Stars and Stripes, the official paper of the 
American expeditionary forces, soon after the defeat of the 
Germans : 

"From the waters of the Channel to the far Swiss frontier pass. 

For three hundred miles of battle, wire and mud. 
From the flaming front of Belgium to the lines that niche Alsace, 

With the lease that gives us tenure writ in blood; 
From a Mons, rewon and righted, from Sedan, revenged for aye. 

To the bulwark of the centuries, Verdun, 
Falls a sweet and stranger silence and the red roar dies away — 

We have won, we have won, we have wonl 

"By the martyrdom of mothers and the children that they bore. 

By the skeleton of Louvain and its kin ; 
By the prisoners of Vimy where their charnel corridor 

Told the hate we owe the butchers of Berlin; 
By the lives we put behind us, by the memories we keep 

Of the men who marched with us whose race is run; 
By the thousands of their crosses where their ranks are still in sleep-^ 

We have won, we have won, we have wonl 



288 STORIES OF THE GREAT WAR 

"So we quit the battered trenches, so we leave the stricken field, 

And the ancient load is lifted as we move, 
And the flags whose wake we followed, that have forced the Hun to yield, 

Bless the columns, swinging on, they ride above I 
Oh! the hungry guns are muzzled and the steel is sheathed in cold. 

And the land of France is shining in the sun ; 
We are back to home and fireside, all we staked ourselves to hold — 

We have won, we have won, we have won! 

THE RETURN OF KING ALBERT. 

When King Albert marched at the head of the victorious 
Belgian army into the city of Brussels, the Belgian capital, at 
the close of the war, there was enacted one of the most wonderful 
scenes in the history of the world. A war correspondent report- 
ing the momentous event for the Associated Press said: 

I have seen many great ceremonies at many places. It is easy to use 
the superlative, but I have never seen so vast and varied a crowd so car- 
ried away by a tumult of fervor as on this occasion. 

The city was simply packed with people, wild with happiness, 
many crying out for very joy, while tears of gladness iilled the 
eyes of others too much overcome to shout the joy they felt 
in their long-suffering hearts. The streets and roads for miles 
upon miles were lined with people, and every available viewpoint 
was occupied hours before the arrival of the king and his army. 
Those in positions above the streets had provided themselves with 
small flags and chrysanthemums which were thrown down in 
showers upon the marching, battle- worn soldiers. 

Tens of thousands more could not even approach the line 
of march, so vast was the multitude, notwithstanding the Belgian 
soldiers alone formed a procession fifteen miles in length. Besides 
these brave sons of the plucky little nation, battalions of Amer- 
ican, French and British troops accompanied them, with a^rtillery. 

The day was fortunately as beautiful as midsummer, thus 
permitting an overhead spectacle in keeping with an important 
feature of the war. It was the presence of many aeroplanes, 
flying hither and thither, around and around, over the route 



FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS 289 

traversed by the troops, their wings turning a silver lining in 
the bright sun-rays as they played fantastic tricks in the blue 
above, typical of the joy that reigned in the hearts of the mul- 
titudes below. 

The despicable Huns had been driven from the land, and its 
rightful possessors had returned. Could ever a people, so long 
oppressed, have better cause for the wild joy everywhere mani- 
fested on this long-to-be-remembered occasion? Certainly, never. 



CROSS-REFERENCES 

Note. — The figures indicate the page and the order of the 
story. For instance, "Diplomacy, 116-2," refers to the second 
incident on page 116. 



Abdication, 147-2, 230-2. 

Aged Patriots, 33-3. 

Allies, 84. 

Artist, 61-2. 

Aviation, 126-2, 180-1, 191- 

211-2, 224. 
Bavarians, 45-2. 
Bells, 148-1, 244-2. 
Big Gun, 25. 
Binoculars, 136-2. 
Birthdays, 38-2, 164-3. 
Blood, 86-2, 255-2. 
Blue Envelope, 180-3, 
Bolshevism, 133-1. 
"Bridge of Ships," 138-1. 
Buttons, 121-2. 
Cages for Americans, 170-1. 
Camp-meeting, 74-2. 
Canaries, 139-1. 
Cartoons, 61-1. 
Cathedral, 198-2. 
Channel, English, 225-1. 
Childhood, 273-1, 280-2. 
Chinese, 32-2, 119-1, 164-1. 
Clairvoyants, 227-1. 
Clean Life, 51-1, 52-1, 103. 
Clemenceau, 214. 
Commandments, 109-1. 
Communion, 236. 



Contrast, 98. 
"Cooties," 229-1. 
Cotton, 141. 
Courtesy, 73-1, 
1,- Courtship, 182-2. 

Cripples, 90-1, 202-1. 
Delay, 99. 
Diaries, 126-1. 
Diplomacy, 116-2, 
Dishonor, 108-2. 
Disobedience, 120-1. 
Dogs, 145-1, 152-2. 
Emblems, 200-3, 
Experience, 124-2. 
Fiction, 69. 

Foch, 83-2, 220-2, 232-2, 270. 
Fogs, 228-2. 
Gallipoli, 99, 251. 
Gipsy Smith, 237. 
Golden Eule, 177-1, 271-3. 
Habit, 217-2. 
Hapsburg, 149-2. 
Hardships, 28, 88-1. 
Health, 118-2. 
Horses, 146, 151. 
Hospitals, 156-3, 
Hospitality, 35-2. 
Ideas, 26. 
"If," 204-1. 

291 



292 



CROSS-REFERENCES 



Immigration, 29-2. 

Indians, 187-2, 202-2, 

Influenza, 118-1, 119, 

Inventions, 175-1. 

Iron Crosses, 135-1, 

Italians, 137-1, 207, 238. 

Jerusalem, 75, 154, 

Jews, 111-2, 

Joan of Arc, 134-3. 

Kaiser, 76-2, 111-2, 112, 133-2, 

142, 196, 231. 
<'Kamerad" Pistol, 283-2. 
Keller, Helen, 275-1. 
King Albert, 206-1, 288. 
King George, 260-2. 
Kings, 162-2. 
Knitting, 27-2. 
"Kultur," 187-1. 
Liberty Motor, 211-1. 
Linguistic, 124-3. 
Lloyd George, 123-2. 
Locomotives, 176. 
Lucifer, 142-1. 
Mexicans, 48. 
Mines, 173. 
Missions, 232-1. 
Monuments, 245-1. 
Motorcycling, 104. ~~' 

''Movies," 159-2. 
Mules, 149-1. 
Mutiny, 106-3, 143. 
Neglect, 30. 
Negroes, 27-1, 71-1, 74-2, 116-1, 

118-3, 124-1, 171-1, 183-2, 

184-3, 217-1, 273. 
Orphans, 63, 178-1. 
Outlawry, 112. 
Panama Canal, 139-2. 
Paper Clothing, 122. 
Paris, 33-2, 37. 



Pershing, 32-3, 37, 135-2, 138-1, 

166, 181, 220-1. 
Photographs, 243-1. 
Pictures, 161-2. 
Pigeons, 199-1, 259-2. 
Police, 130. 
Prayer, 97. 
Prisoners, 125-1, 200-2, 257, 

268-2. 
Profanity, 244-1. 
Eaids, 106-1. 
Red Cross, 66-2, 157-2. 
Retreating, 182-1. 
Revenge, 178-2. 
Roosevelt, 66-3, 162-2, 218. 
Salaries, 39-2. 
Salutes, 275-2. 
Salvation Army, 255-1, 261. 
Sandbags, 137-3. 
Sectarianism, 79-1. 
Self-control, 186. 
Sermons, 216, 234-1. 
Shoes, 129-2. 
Sims, Admiral, 87. 
Sins, 57. 
Slackers, 92-1. 
Slang, 36. 
Sleep, 60-2, 210. 
Slogans, 204-2. 
Snobbery, 168-2. 
Solid South, 82-1. 
Solomon, 231. 
"Somewhere," 47-2. 
Speed, 104, 223^1, 275-3. 
Spies, 282-1. 

Submarines, 108-2, 128-2. 
*'T," 110-2. 
Tattoo, 184-2. 
Teachers, 163-1. 
Teeth, 128-1. 



CROSS-REFERENCES 



293 



Telegrapher, 101. 
Teutonism, 110-2. 
Thirst, 203-1, 251. 
Timepieces, 136-1, 217-2. 
Tobacco, 138-2, 165, 240, 277-2. 
Toys, 62. 
Trucks, 213-1. 
Twins, 41-2. 
Uniforms, 74-1. 



Verdun Belle, 152-2. 

Wealth, 79-2. 

''Whither," 147. 

Wilson, President, 76-2, 85, 

222-2, 256-2, 271-2. 
Wireless, 140. 
Wounds, 162-1. 
Y. M. C. A., 51-2, 73-2. 
Zero, 95. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: jyj^ 2OOI 

PreservationTechnologie! 

A WORLD LEADER IK PAPER PRESERVATIOI 

111 Thomson Pari< Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
(724) 779-2111 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




007 693 466 6 # 



|i| t i i 

llllliiiili 



iliiSi' 



i, ^liilliitjiii 

I ilii!' 

iiliiii 



